abdominal 8 VUM neuron [FBbt_00047555]

abdominal 8 VUM neuron

ID: FBbt_00047555

Octopamine-expressing VUM neuron with a cell body located in abdominal neuromere 8 (a8) of the larval ventral nerve cord. There are two of these cells. Processes arborize in the dorsomedial neuropil of anterior neuromeres and some neurites reach the posterior part of a5. The efferents project via the intersegmental nerve.

Vomel and Wegener, 2008 (FBrf0210246) reported that these cells were located in abdominal neuromere 7. For neurotransmitter expression analysis, Vomel and Wegener, 2008 used Tdc2-GAL4 (tyrosine decarboxylase - implies presence of tyramine) and anti-Tbh (tyramine beta-hydroxylase - implies presence of octopamine). Selcho et al., 2012 used Tdc2-GAL4, validated with anti-Tbh, anti-p-tyramine and anti-conjugated octopamine, to visualize tyraminergic and octopaminergic neurons. These may be motor neurons and may innervate the female reproductive tract (Vomel and Wegener, 2008), but muscle targets have not been demonstrated.