The Nutrition of the Central Nervous System in the Cockroach Periplaneta Americana L

Abstract

The organs and tissues of insects are mostly composed of single layers of cells separated from the circulating blood by thin connective tissue membranes (Wigglesworth, 1956a; Pipa & Cook, 1958). The supply of nutrients to such organs presents no problem. But the central nervous system is an exception. The ganglia are the only solid organs in the insect body. They consist of densely packed peripheral cells surrounding a central neuropile, the whole ganglion being covered by a tough fibrous sheath or neural lamella continuous with the connective tissue membranes elsewhere. The total thickness of the ganglion may be 1 mm. or more.