Examining the Effects of Cold on Gut Epithelial Permeability in Locusta migratoria

When exposed to temperatures below their minimum tolerable temperature, the majority of insects succumb to a comatose state. If the exposure is relatively mild or brief, they are able to recover from this chill coma. However, when exposed to harsh cold stress, an accumulation of cold-induced tissue damage occurs and can ultimately result in mortality. These chill injuries have been consistently associated with a loss of organismal ion balance that occurs at low temperatures. In Drosophila, this imbalance is hypothesized to occur at least partly due to a cold-induced disruption of epithelial barriers along the paracellular pathway. However, the specific location of these barrier failures, and their role in solute leak, remain unknown. The primary goal of my research was therefore to use the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria) and markers of paracellular permeability to investigate the relationships among chilling injury, ionoregulation, and gut barrier integrity in the cold.