Immunohistochemical Localization Of Androgen Receptor Analogous And Its Functions In Polyrhachis Vicina Roger

As one of the three social insects in the world, the nervous system of ants isvery developed, which leads to their complex behaviors. Moreover, the brain of antshas the ability of secretion. A lot of neurosecretory cells(NBC) are dispersed in ants'nervous system, but mainly located in brain. NBC can produce many kinds ofneurohormones. Meanwhile, receptors of these neurohormones can be detected. Thus,the signaling pathway of hormone-receptor regulates many physiological processes ofants.Polyrhachis vicina Roger is a black ant of Asia, which is considered as an effectiveChinese medicine. Polyrhachis vicina Roger also has a very developed society, whichindicates that they have developed brains.Androgen receptor belongs to the nuclear receptor superfamily and is aligand-dependent transcription regulator, which can be activated by androgen.Androgen receptor signaling pathway plays a very important role in the process oflearning and memory in mammals. In this experiment, we investigated the expressionof androgen receptor analogous in the brains of worker and male Polyrhachis vicinaRoger with the SABC method. The results showed that a positive expression ofandrogen receptor analogous was observed in both work ants and male ants. Thepositive expression was mainly expressed at the mushroom bodies, which are thecentre of learning and memory for insects, and this result indicated that androgenreceptor analogous signaling pathway effected the process of ants' learning andmemory. Compared with work ants, the positive expression in male ants was weaker,which indicated the male ants' ability of learning was relatively poorer than work ants.In addition, there was also positive expression at the central complex of work ants andmale ants, but weaker than mushroom bodies. Some studies show that the centralcomplex is also involved in the process of insect's cognition, however, its function tillneeds further investigation. Androgen is very important for the regulation of aggression. It is clear that themushroom bodies also exert effects on insect's behavior of aggression. The positiveexpression of androgen receptor analogous at the mushroom bodies indicated thatandrogen receptor analogous signaling pathway may regulate aggression behavior ofants. Meanwhile, the result that expression in work ants is stronger than male ants isconsistent with the fact that work ants are much more aggressive than male ants.The differentiation of sex gland and maturation of sexual cells are both regulatedby sex steroid hormones. A steroid androgenic hormone, which has similar structure tovertebrate, can be detected in insects. In this experiment, we investigated theexpression of androgen receptor analogous in the sex gland of male ants. The resultsshowed a positive expression, which indicated that there was endogenous steroidandrogen analogous, and probably regulated the differentiation of sex gland andspermatogenesis.In this paper we for the first time investigate the expression of androgen receptoranalogous for the sake of proving the function of androgen receptor analogous in ants'cognition and differentiation of sex gland and spermatogenesis.