昆蟲的咽側腺(corpora allata；簡稱CA)是ㄧ對分泌青春激素(juvenile hormone; 簡稱JH) 的內分泌腺體。此激素的功能主要是調控其生長、變態和生殖。甲蟲蟑螂（Diploptera punctata）的卵巢週期間，在雌性成蟲的咽側腺內，JH的合成速率有週期性的變化，其速率的上升或下降，會分別伴隨著腺體的生長及萎縮。在此我們建立了一套長時期體外培養咽側腺的系統，可以允許我們研究咽側腺細胞的生長及萎縮情形。細胞的大小是合成JH的胞器數量多寡的一種指標，實驗亦指出JH的合成速率與CA細胞大小的改變有密切的關係。我們更發現腦和卵巢都可調控CA細胞的大小。外加allatostatin I於培養液中，可直接誘發CA細胞的萎縮，因此腦內調控細胞萎縮的因子可能是allatostatin。以卵巢、卵巢的萃取液或事先用卵巢處理過的培養基與CA一起培養，結果顯示可能有一種分泌自卵巢的胜肽分子或是20-hydroxyecdysone直接作用於CA，導致細胞內cGMP含量上升，然後促使細胞的自體吞噬作用的活性增加，或者抑制蛋白質的合成，因而造成細胞的蛋白質含量下降，細胞萎縮。結果就使得製造JH的胞器減少，而令CA進入長期休眠的狀態。

The corpora allata (CA) synthesize and release juvenile hormone (JH) that in turn regulates insect growth, metamorphosis and reproduction. Rates of juvenile hormone (JH) fluctuate concurrently during ovarian cycles with cyclic growth and atrophy of allatal cells in the cockroach, Diploptera punctata. We established an in vitro long-term culture system allowing us to study factors regulating slow development of CA cells. The data indicate that rates of JH synthesis were highly correlated with changes in the sizes of CA cells, an indicator of amount of cellular machinery required for JH synthesis. Also, we found that the brain and ovaries both induced CA cell atrophy. By adding allatostatin I into the culture media, the results imply that allatostatin may be the candidate of the brain factor to shrink CA cells. In addition, results of treating CA with ovaries, ovarian extract or ovary-conditioned medium suggest that a putative peptidergic growth regulator or 20-hydroxyecdysone released from mature ovaries acts directly on active CA cells and induces the elevation of intracellular cGMP content. Consequently, elevated cGMP may inhibit protein synthesis or trigger massive and synchronous autophagic activities, resulting in cell atrophy and reduction of protein content. As a result of the depletion of cellular machinery, CA glands exhibit long-term depression in JH synthesis.

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