Abstract
Role of glutamate receptors on the regulation of juvenile hormone (JH) synthesis in the cockroach, Diploptera punctata, and adult females was studies. Rates of JH synthesis by corpora allata (CA) were elevated when stimulated with glutamate, NMDA, kainate, and quisqualate, respectively. In contrast, ibotenate inhibited rates of JH synthesis, and AMPA showed no effective. The glutamate-induced increase in rates of JH synthesis was abolished, when the CA were also exposed to ibotenate, but when the corpus allatum cells exposed to the ibotenate's antagonist picrotoxin, the glutamate-induced increase in rates of JH was adding. The ibotenate- induced decrease in JH synthesis was abolished, when the corpus allatum cells exposed to the ibotenate's antagonist picrotoxin. The CA of day-4 mated females were most sensitive to the stimulation of glutamate and NMDA females during the first ovarian cycle, when the rates of JH synthesis peaked. These results indicate the presence of functional iontropic glutamate receptors in corpus allatum cells, and the rates of JH synthesis are, at least in part, regulated via these receptors. Stage-specific response to glutamate and NMDA suggests that the regulation may act on the expression level of glutamate receptors on corpus allatum cells.