Perfil eletroforético de sistema nervoso central e periférico de baratas phoetalia pallida

Abstract

Some proteins in the insect nervous system have the structure and the regulation homologous to vertebrate organisms, therefore it is valid to study neurotransmission in insects, albeit the physiology and the macrostructure of the systems differ between the two kingdoms. Among insects, the study of protein receptors for neurotransmitters is more advanced in Drosophila melanogaster flies than in cockroaches. However, the use of cockroaches in neurobiological research is increasing, mainly because of the simplicity and economy of these insects as experimental models, with yet no legal restrictions on scientific experimentation. The present study aimed to obtain the electrophoretic profile of proteins from central and peripheral nervous system of cockroach species Phoetalia pallida. The work started with a comprehensive review of the literature in order to obtain basic information about the nervous system of these insects, using as parameter some neurotransmitter systems from mammals. In this study the suboesophageal ganglion was used as a representative structure of the central nervous system and the proximal third from the posterior legs, thighs, used as a representative structure of the neuromuscular junction (peripheral nervous system). These structures were dissected, homogenized and solubilized in detergents SDS or Triton X-100. Aliquots of subcellular fractions (total homogenate supernatant and pellet) were collected for quantitation of proteins estimated by BCA method –bicinchoninic acid. After this step, was conducted one dimension polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS- PAGE), yielding the protein profile of the fractions. With this we intended, by comparing the molecular weight and the electrophoretic mobility pattern of known mammalian and Drosophila receptors, to suggest some of the receptors present in the nervous system.