In the present study we tested whether the walking activity of macropterous females of the flightless wing-polymorphic bug Pyrrhocoris apterus (L.) can be stimulated by its native adipokinetic hormone Peram-CAH-II and the crustacean red pigment-concentrating hormone (Panbo-RPCH), and the effectiveness of the latter hormone in a lipid mobilization assay. Two different doses (10 or 40 pmol) of Peram-CAH-II or Panbo-RCPH were injected into 10-day-old macropterous females of P. apterus to evaluate their effects on the walking activity of treated females. The results obtained showed a significant stimulation of walking activity only with the lower dose (10 pmol) of either hormone Peram-CAH-II or Panbo-RPCH. On the contrary, the walking activity of the same-aged females of macropterous morph treated with the higher dose (40 pmol) of these hormones was decreased. The energy substrates mobilized in Panbo-RPCH-treated macropterous females were lipids. The question of whether the stimulation of locomotion by Panbo-RPCH is limited only to P. apterus or if it might also represent an important function of this hormone in other insects or even in crustaceans is discussed.
The effects of 5 pmols of adipokinetic hormone (Lom-AKH-I) on both the locomotion and mobilization of lipids were studied in 10-day-old diapausing adult females of the short-winged (brachypterous) morph of Pyrrhocoris apterus (L.). The results revealed that AKH stimulation of locomotion in this bug is wing-morph independent. The stimulatory effect of AKH on locomotion was shown to be positively correlated with its effect on lipid mobilization., Radomír Socha, Dalibor Kodrík, Rostislav Zemek, and Lit