REGULATION OF RESPIRATORY ACIDEMIA BY THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS-SYSTEM (COELOPULSE) IN INSECTS AND TICKS

The respiratory patterns exhibited by diapausing adults of Chrysopa carnea (Insecta, Neuroptera) and diapausing adults of Ixodes ricinus (Acari, Parasitiformes) have been recorded by means of the scanning microrespirographic method. Both these terrestrial arthropods released the respiratory CO2 in the form of discontinuous pulses with a periodicity of several minutes. In Chrysopa, the periodicity, was 2.1 min, each cycle lasted 9.5 s, and the amount of CO2 produced in one cycle averaged 42.26 nL. In Ixodes, the periodicity was 1.3 min, the CO2 pulses lasted only 7 s, and the amount of CO2 produced in one cycle averaged 26.13 nL. The described cycles in CO2 production, which are called the Prague cycles, are regulated by the autonomic nervous system (the coelopulse) with the centers located in the thoracic ganglia. Some neurohormonal centers that could be associated with functions of the coelopulse system are also outlined. The possibility that these structures (perisympathetic neurohemal organs, H-organ) are involved in regulation of the respiratory acidemia is discussed.