Stanley D. Carlson

Research Interest

Insect Neuroanatomy and Electron Microscopy. Ultrastructural studies, using all forms of electron microscopy, delineate the synaptic associations and pathways of visual system neuropils of larval and adult insects. Allied studies are on the insect blood-brain barrier relative to pesticide entry.

In the past several years, our research has focused on the Drosophila embryo and its neurogenesis with regard to the first manifestations of synapse formation (CNS) and cellular synthesis of chordotonal organs (which are internal stretch receptors and possess a blood-nerve barrier). This organ had, heretofore, never been fully comprehended ultrastructurally nor known relative to its blood-nerve barrier. Three or four publications on this facet of our mission will come out in 1997. We now know that the blood-nerve barrier forms early on in Drosophila embryogenesis (Stage 13) while the barrier in the CNS develops much later, i.e., in the last stage (No. 17) embryo. The earliest appearances of synapses of the CNS are in Stage 15 where synaptic densities are first seen (along with docked synaptic vesicles).

Associates

Barnhill, Heidi (Assoc. Res. Spec.)
Hilgers, Susan (Assoc. Res. Spec.)