Estimation of the information pathway in an insect brain based on the physiological data

Male silkmoth is known for its programmed behavior for the pheromone orientation on the pheromone source detection. Estimation of the functional connection is done based on the possible anatomical connections and physiological response of each neuron. The action command is generated in the premotor center, composed of the lateral accessory lobe (LAL) and the ventral protocerebrum (VPC). The morphology and the physiological response to the pheromone stimulus are obtained for each main type of LAL-VPC neuron through the intensive electro-physiological and immunohisto-chemical experiments. However, how the motor command is generated in LAL-VPC, or the information pathway in the network, is still unknown. Therefore, we investigate the functional connection in LAL-VPC to elucidate the mechanism of the motor command generation based on the detailed experimental data on each neuron. The main pathway is extracted from the obtained connection, from the connection strength and from the dynamics of LALV-PC network simulation.