Central olfactory pathways in mosquitoes and other insects

Abstract

Studies of CNS processing of olfactory information have contributed significantly to understanding olfactory-guided behaviour in insects. Evidence in moths suggests that each glomerulus in the antennal lobes has a unique property: receptor-axon projections and dendritic arborizations of uniglomerular output neurons can relate to anatomically and functionally distinct glomeruli. Similar correlations are not typical of the concentrically organized locust antennal lobes. Insights about odour processing in the CNS of female mosquitoes should help us to understand how sensory information can lead to host-seeking behaviour. It will be interesting to learn how inputs from CO2 receptors on the maxillary palps and inputs from antennal olfactory receptors that respond to host odours are integrated centrally, so that pharmacological manipulation of olfactory neuron activity might provide a tool for the control of mosquitoes as important vector insects. The antennal lobe of male and female Aedes aegypti contains 20-25 glomeruli. Primary afferent projections from the antennae and maxillary palps target specific glomeruli of the ipsilateral antennal lobe. Maxillary palp projections are restricted to two posteromedial glomeruli, which do not receive antennal afferents. The latter arborize in the remaining glomeruli.