DYNAMICS OF ECDYSONE SECRETION AND ACTION IN THE FLESHFLY SARCOPHAGA PEREGRINA

1. Ecdysone is in a highly dynamic state after its injection or its secretion by the ring-gland of Sarcophaga peregrina. Hormonal activity is rapidly destroyed by an inactivating mechanism which is present in the tissues but not in the blood. 2. Inactivation is blocked by low temperatures or anaerobic conditions-a finding that implicates chemical and, more particularly, oxidative reactions. The mechanism in question could be demonstrated in larval fragments but not in crude or fractionated homogenates. 3. When injected into mature larvae, 1 µg of α-ecdysone loses 50% of its activity in 1 hour and 98% in 8 hours. Lower doses show even briefer "half-lives." 4. The rapid inactivation of ecdysone can account for its low titer in both the blood and tissues. Thus at the "critical period" for puparium formation, the entire larva contains only 2.5 nanograms, corresponding to only 7% of a Sarcophaga unit. 5. The evidence points to the accumulation, not of the hormone itself, but the covert biochemical and biophysical effects of the hormone. The covert effects undergo spatial and temporal summation within the target organs and finally discharge the overt developmental response. 6. The role of the blood is to serve, not as a reservoir, but as a pipeline through which ecdysone flows from the ring-gland to its sites of action and swift inactivation.