Figure 1

Physiologically active whole-mount preparation of the contractile tick ovary.

(a) Dissection procedure for the extraction and mount of the contractile tick ovary, ticks are transversally cut between the first and second leg pairs. (b) Internal organs are extruded and (c) the ovary is pinned in a Sylgard surface. (d) Physiological paradigm for the study of ovary contraction A₀ corresponds to the ovary basal tone in the presence of Ca²⁺ 2 mM. A₁ corresponds to the area of the ovary after 80 seconds of incubation with the substance to be tested and reflects the effect on muscle tone for the substance tested. In this case the vehicle (0.05% DMSO in complete Jan & Jan solution) was used as control. A₂ corresponds to maximal contraction after de addition of 15 mM KCl. A normalized contraction index (NCI) smaller than 100 means that the tissue has an increase in tone or contraction correspondingly, a NCI bigger than 100 means that the tissue relaxes or loses tone. All traces (time series) represent the averaged response of six preparations. All experimental conditions tested were compared to this control. (e) Octopamine dose response, three different concentrations were tested (15 μM, 5 μM, 1.7 μM). At 1.7 μM the muscle tone (A₁) was not significantly affected. All other conditions were significantly different (P ≤ 0.0001).