Prothoracicotropic hormone-producing neurosecretory cells in the silkworm, Bombyx mori, express a muscarinic acetylcholine receptor

Using an anti-muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) antibody and an anti-prothoracicotropic hormone (PITH) antibody, double immunofluorescence staining was performed on brain sections of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Four pairs of dorsolateral neurosecretory cells, along with some intercerebral neurosecretory cells, were immunoreactive to anti-mAChR antibody. Among these immunoreactive cells, two pairs of dorsolateral neurosecretory cells were identified to be PTTH-producing neurosecretory cells. Nerve fibers in the median and paramedian protocerebral areas, and nerve terminals in the corpus allatum also showed immunoreactivity to the anti-mAChR antibody. Some of these nerve terminals expressing mAChRs were overlapped by immunostaining with the anti-PTTH antibody. These results indicated that PTTH-producing neurosecretory cells of Bombyx mori expressed an mAChR, and that muscarinic, cholinergic transmission might directly regulate PTTH release from neurosecretory cells. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.