Behavioral non-conditioning assay in insect magnetosensitivity research.
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2005 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Biophysics of Magnetic Orientation in Animals. |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Physiology |
| Keywords | magnetoreception insects periplanetta |
| Description | Our goal was to call into action as simple as possible non-conditionig test of magnetosensitivity on american coackroach (Periplanetta americana) species widely used by insect neurophysiologists. We scored the number of main body axis rotations > 15 (body turns) of cockroaches in uniform light placed individually into Petri dishes. We compared the spontaneous (control) turn activity with activity observed within a period of intermittent geomagnetic field rotations (period 2: 11.30-13.00). We found a significant grow of the turn activity compared to control (Mann-Whitney, P = 0.01, n = 62/66) for period 2 with overrun to following period 3. We suppose the simplicity of the test to be its main virtue. Provided the non-conditioning cockroach test of magnetosensitivity turns out to be replicable and stable it could play a role in investigation of still unknown neural principles of insect magnetoreception by means of standart neuro-techniques. |
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