A new method for electrophysiological identification of antennal pH receptor cells in ground beetles: The example of Pterostichus aethiops (Panzer, 1796) (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

The responses of antennal taste sensilla of the ground beetle Pterostichus aethiops to 100 mM Na+-salts and their mixtures with 1 and 10 mM NaOH were compared. An increase in pH by 0.3–0.6 units in 100 mM Na+-salt solutions, caused by the content of 1 mM NaOH, was too small, except for alkaline Na2HPO4, to influence the firing rate of the cation cell and pH cell significantly. However, different sensitivity of the two cells to increased pH was clearly demonstrated when the concentration of NaOH in 100 mM stimulating salt solutions was increased to 10 mM. Increasing pH by 1.2–2 units caused the 1st s firing rate to increase by 140–1050% and 0–26% in the pH cell and cation cell, respectively. Compared to the buffer series method used for identification of the pH receptors in ground beetles earlier, considerably stronger responses of the pH cell to a similar increase in pH were observed when the NaOH method was used for testing. At the same time, undesirable changes in salt ions concentration that occur when stimulating solutions differing by 1–2 pH units are prepared were much smaller using the latter method. Behavioural and ecological relevance of the results is discussed.