Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Tangential neurons of the fan-shaped body in Megalopta genalis, Eciton hamatum and Bombus terrestris

Borgström, Martin (2021) MOBK01 20211
Degree Projects in Molecular Biology
Popular Abstract
Comparing FB tangential neurons

Every living person has got a brain (even if we sometime question it!) The same goes for all other animals, including insects. Theirs are, however, much smaller and simpler. From a practical (and ethical) standpoint, it is therefore much easier to study insect brains than human brains. One interesting field of study is the navigational ability of insects.

The primary unit of the brain is the neuron. This is a cell capable of communicating with other neurons through electrical impulses. Naturally, this also holds true for the “Central Complex”, or “the CX”, the part of the insect’s brain responsible for their navigational ability. While both humans and insects have brain consisting mainly of neurons,... (More)
Comparing FB tangential neurons

Every living person has got a brain (even if we sometime question it!) The same goes for all other animals, including insects. Theirs are, however, much smaller and simpler. From a practical (and ethical) standpoint, it is therefore much easier to study insect brains than human brains. One interesting field of study is the navigational ability of insects.

The primary unit of the brain is the neuron. This is a cell capable of communicating with other neurons through electrical impulses. Naturally, this also holds true for the “Central Complex”, or “the CX”, the part of the insect’s brain responsible for their navigational ability. While both humans and insects have brain consisting mainly of neurons, the CX is a structure that is not only exclusively found in insects but has been found in every insect species examined to date! Three different classes of neurons exist in the CX, one of them being the tangential neurons. These neurons transmit information to the CX from other parts of the brain which can be used in navigation. One example is visual clues in the environment such as trees or other plants. The CX consist of four different parts. The least understood part is called “the fan-shaped body” (FB).


The FB has been linked with sleep, arousal, motor control and visual recognition. As different species live very different lives, their central complexes should also be different. My project has consisted of tracing tangential neurons going into the FB, also called TU neurons. This was done in a program called CATMAID. The program allows the user to create a 3D map of the neurons. By then comparing the tangential neurons of ants, bees, and bumblebees, I can determine whether the tangential neurons look the same or not in every species.

While there still remains many potential TU neurons to be traced, there seems to be a noticeable difference in the quantity of tangential neurons going into the FB. The bee for example has many more TU cells than the bumblebee.
More neurons must be investigated before any conclusions can be made but current results indicate that the number of TU neurons varies between species.

Supervisor: Stanley Heinze
Bachelor’s project in molecular biology 15 hp VT 2021
Biological institution, Lund university (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Borgström, Martin
supervisor
organization
course
MOBK01 20211
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
language
English
id
9060078
date added to LUP
2021-06-30 15:42:45
date last changed
2021-06-30 15:42:45
@misc{9060078,
  author       = {{Borgström, Martin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Tangential neurons of the fan-shaped body in Megalopta genalis, Eciton hamatum and Bombus terrestris}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}