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The mosquito gut is modified along its
length, and gut processes in the different regions, including
transport and motility, are regulated by neurotransmitters such as
serotonin and a large number of peptide hormones. We study this
system by isolating the gut and monitoring the voltage in specific regions of
the tubular epithelium while exposing the blood and lumen sides to salines containing transmitters, peptides and blockers of known
transport systems. Transepithelical recordings are combined with
intracellular penetrations used for voltage and ion specific
measurements, and pH sensitive dyes reflect functional changes that
are videotaped. Electron microscopy is being used to characterize
the epithelial, regenerative and muscular cell types in the gut at
different life stages. Future directions will involve the mapping
and testing of receptors for the regulatory systems, with the aim of
generating new blockers specific to the vital transport systems.
This work represents a change from my previous studies of nervous
system regeneration in a snail that has a remarkable capacity for
nervous system repair. The operations on very small animals is a
technical parallel with the challenges of that work, and I have
focused on the process of metamorphosis as a parallel with
regeneration, as stem cells form the basis of new structures under
the control of hormones in the mosquitoes.
Biographical Information
Stacia B. Moffett, Associate Professor
ofBiological Sciences, did doctoral research on crab reflexes at the
University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. Postdoctoral research in
Biomedical Engineering at Duke University focused on effects of temperature
on the nervous system of the gastropod Aplysia.
Selected Publications
Moffett, S. 1997. Nervous System
Regeneration in the Invertebrates. Springer-Verlag,
Zoophysiology Series Vol. 34.
Moffett, S. (2000) Regeneration as an Application of Gastropod
Neural Plasticity. In: Microscopical Research and Techniques,
Topical Issue: Gastropod Nervous Systems. 49:579-588.
Griffis,B., Moffett, S.B., Cooper, R.L. (2000). Muscle phenotype
remains unaltered after limb autotomy and unloading. J. Exp. Zool.
287
Bale, S.D., Howard, T.A., and Moffett, S.B. (2001). Neuronal and
non-neuronal responses to nerve crush in a pulmonate snail,
Melampus bidentatus. Invert. Neurosci. 4: 105-117.
Onken, H. Moffett, S.B., and Moffett D.F. (2004). The
transepithelial voltage of the isolated anterior stomach of mosquito
larvae (Aedes aegypti): pharmacological characterization of
the serotonin-stimulated cells. J. Exp. Biol. 207:
1779-1787.
Onken, H., S. B. Moffett, and D. F. Moffett (2004). The anterior
stomach of larval mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti): effects of
neuropeptides on transepithelial ion transport and muscular
motility. J. Exp. Biol. 207: 3731-3739.
Moffett, S.B. and Moffett, D.F. (2005). Comparison of
immunoreactivity to serotonin, FMRFamide and SCPb in the gut and
visceral nervous system of larvae, pupae and adults of the yellow
fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Journal of Insect Science
(online).
Clark, T.M., Hutchinson, M.J., Huegel, K.L., Moffett, S.B., Moffett,
D.F. (2005). Additional morphological and physiological
heterogeneity within the midgut of larval Aedes aegypti (Diptera:Culicidae)
revealed by histology, electrophysiology, and effects of Bacillus
thuringiensis endotoxin. Tissue and Cell 37: 457-468.
Onken, H., Moffett, S. B. & Moffett, D. F. (2006). The isolated
anterior stomach of larval mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti):
voltage-clamp measurements with a tubular epithelium. Comp.
Biochem. Physiol. 143A:24-34.
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