Motor innervation pattern of labral muscles of Locusta migratoria

The current study investigates the motor innervation pattern of labral muscles in the adult locust and tries to interpret the results in the light of the hypothesis that the labrum phylogenetically developed by the fusion of paired appendages associated with the intercalary segment. Using Neurobiotin™ as a retrograde neuronal tracer, specific motor nerves or individual labral muscles were stained. Results show that the labral muscles receive innervation from tritocerebrum and suboesophageal ganglion. The axons of many motor neurons use three different pathways to cross the midline in the periphery to innervate ipsi- and contralateral muscles. Intracellular recordings from fibers of individual muscles and simultaneous recordings from motor neurons imply that the labral muscles lack inhibitory innervation. The location of motor neurons in both tritocerebrum and suboesophageal ganglion supports the notion that the labrum is innervated by the so-called intercalary segment. That many of the efferent axons cross the midline in the periphery might be explained by the hypothesis that the labrum derives from a fusion of appendages.