Contralateral Deafferentation Does Not Affect Regeneration Processes in the Auditory System of Schistocerca gregaria (Orthoptera)

The auditory system of locusts has high regeneration capacity following injury of the peripheral afferents. Regenerating auditory afferents can re-innervate their target areas even after changed neuronal pathways. Here, possible influences of contralateral deafferentation on regenerating afferents were investigated. Contralateral deafferentation was performed at different stages of the regeneration. Regeneration was triggered by crushing the tympanal nerve. The regenerated fibers showed aberrant fiber outgrowth, reduced density of terminations in the target area, the auditory neuropile and collateral sprouts crossing the midline. However, these results were not significantly influenced by the contralateral deafferentation. Therefore the bilateral symmetrical systems seem to be largely independent from each other.