Neuroarchitecture of the Central Complex in the Madeira Cockroach Rhyparobia maderae: Tangential Neurons.

Navigating in diverse environments to find food, shelter, or mating partners is an important ability for nearly all animals. Insects have evolved diverse navigational strategies to survive in challenging and unknown environments. In the insect brain, the central complex (CX) plays an important role in spatial orientation and directed locomotion.

Neuroarchitecture of the central complex in the Madeira cockroach Rhyparobia maderae: Pontine and columnar neuronal cell types.

Insects have evolved remarkable abilities to navigate over short distances and during long-range seasonal migrations. The central complex (CX) is a navigation center in the insect brain that controls spatial orientation and directed locomotion. It is composed of the protocerebral bridge (PB), the upper (CBU) and lower (CBL) division of the central body, and a pair of noduli.

The sky compass network in the brain of the desert locust.

Many arthropods and vertebrates use celestial signals such as the position of the sun during the day or stars at night as compass cues for spatial orientation. The neural network underlying sky compass coding in the brain has been studied in great detail in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria. These insects perform long-range migrations in Northern Africa and the Middle East following seasonal changes in rainfall.

3D-atlas of the brain of the cockroach Rhyparobia maderae.

The Madeira cockroach Rhyparobia maderae is a nocturnal insect and a prominent model organism for the study of circadian rhythms. Its master circadian clock, controlling circadian locomotor activity and sleep-wake cycles, is located in the accessory medulla of the optic lobe. For a better understanding of brain regions controlled by the circadian clock and brain organization of this insect in general, we created a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of all neuropils of the cerebral ganglia based on anti-synapsin and anti-γ-aminobutyric acid immunolabeling of whole mount brains.

Myoinhibitory peptides in the central complex of the locust Schistocerca gregaria and colocalization with locustatachykinin-related peptides.

The central complex in the brain of insects provides a neural network for sensorimotor processing that is essential for spatial navigation and locomotion and plays a role in sleep control. Studies on the neurochemical architecture of the central complex have been performed especially in the fruit fly Drosophila melangoaster and the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria. In several insect species, myoinhibitory peptides (MIPs) are involved in circadian control and sleep-wake regulation.

Pharmacological characterization of mutant huntingtin aggregate-directed PET imaging tracer candidates.

Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion in the first exon of the huntingtin (HTT) gene coding for the huntingtin (HTT) protein. The misfolding and consequential aggregation of CAG-expanded mutant HTT (mHTT) underpin HD pathology. Our interest in the life cycle of HTT led us to consider the development of high-affinity small-molecule binders of HTT oligomerized/amyloid-containing species that could serve as either cellular and in vivo imaging tools or potential therapeutic agents.

Organization and neural connections of the lateral complex in the brain of the desert locust.

The lateral complexes (LXs) are bilaterally paired neuropils in the insect brain that mediate communication between the central complex (CX), a brain center controlling spatial orientation, various sensory processing areas, and thoracic motor centers that execute locomotion. The LX of the desert locust consists of the lateral accessory lobe (LAL), and the medial and lateral bulb. We have analyzed the anatomical organization and the neuronal connections of the LX in the locust, to provide a basis for future functional studies.

[The flu epidemic after World War I and homeopathy--an international comparison].

The "Spanish Flu" began in 1918 and was the most devastating pandemic in human history that had ever been, claiming more lives than World War I. The flu virus had not yet been discovered, and the usual therapy measures were merely symptomatic. In many parts of the world the pandemic was treated by homeopaths.