BACKGROUND
the amines octopamine and tyramine are apparently ubiquitous in arthropods, with neuromodulatory roles in a wide range of behaviours including jumping, flight, courtship and even social interactions .
although cellular actions of these neuromodulators have been described, in both the cns and pns, their exact roles in behaviour have resisted pharmacological approaches largely because of cross-talk between members of the amine receptor family.
recently, the sequenced drosophila genome, together with genetic knockouts of synthetic enzymes or receptors, have provided new tools to address the roles of these neuromodulators.
these include two fly mutants in which the neurogenic amines octopamine or tyramine are not synthesized  <cit>  and others in which one class of octopamine or tyramine receptors is deficient  <cit> .
surprisingly, these knockouts survive and appeared to behave "normally", but when fly behaviour was examined in detail, jumping ability was reduced by one-third  <cit>  and egg-laying performance was dramatically reduced, if not abolished, suggesting that a detailed understanding of the neuromuscular basis of egg-laying would provide an excellent system for gaining an understanding of amine action.
the neuromuscular organization of egg-laying in drosophila and its neuro-hormonal regulation remain poorly understood.
this is surprising since many mutant lines are known in which egg-laying is reduced.
further, it is clear that the female fly controls oviposition to ensure the eggs are laid on a suitable substrate  <cit> .
we are now able to advance this as we show below that the isolated drosophila female reproductive tract maintains activity in vitro.
this allows us to separate out aminergic modulation on the reproductive tract musculature from aminergic effects on the cns, in ways not previously possible.
the drosophila female reproductive tract is shown in fig.
<dig>  the eggs are formed by the ovarioles, which compose the ovary.
at the tip of each ovariole is a germarium: this divides repeatedly to give a series of egg chambers, containing  <dig> nurse cells, an oocyte and follicle cells.
as the egg chambers progress down the ovariole, they enlarge.
in the final stages the nurse cell contents are transferred to the developing oocyte, the nurse cells die and the chorion is laid down, leaving a mature oocyte.
development of the oocyte is then paused until it is released from the ovary into the lateral oviduct .
it then moves into the common oviduct and into the uterus.
here, if the female has mated, the egg will be fertilised.
finally, it is oviposited on to the substrate.
we have used an integrative approach to examine the neuromuscular organisation of the female genital tract, describing each muscle layer and their patterns of contraction.
we show that the peritoneal sheath around the ovary and upper reaches of the oviduct are innervated by modulatory neurons, with more conventional synapses occurring in the common oviduct and uterus, but the epithelial sheaths of the individual ovarioles are not.
we have developed a novel technique to record ovariograms , and use this to show that each organ in the genital tract appears to have its own endogenous myogenic rhythm, with the amplitude of ovarian contractions increased by octopamine.
RESULTS
muscle structure
the histology and ultrastructure of the major components of the female reproductive tract in drosophila  have been outlined previously  <cit>  and here we provide particulars of the musculature.
throughout the tract, the muscle fibres are striated  with a clearly defined sarcomeric structure, typical of visceral muscles in insects  <cit> .
there is no evidence to support a claim  <cit>  that the epithelial and peritoneal sheath fibres are 'smooth' .
each ovariole is surrounded by an epithelial sheath  forming an open mesh around the ovary.
scanning electron micrographs  <cit>  show the presence of large gaps  in the peritoneal sheath below which the epithelial sheaths of the ovarioles can be seen.
em sections cut longitudinally to myofibres of the peritoneal sheath  or of the two neighbouring epithelial sheaths  show the rather irregular interdigitation of the thick and thin filaments and the presence of perforated z-discs.
these are both characteristic of muscles that are supercontractile .
supercontractile muscles occur in the insect viscera and in the larval body wall musculature  <cit> .
this is the first indication that these peritoneal sheath muscle fibres may be supercontractile, but this is not surprising given the large volume changes that occur during post-eclosional maturation of the ovary and oogenesis.
the muscles in the walls of the common  and lateral oviducts  are indistinguishable.
confocal fluorescence microscopy  shows that they are striated muscles consisting of an ordered array of circular myofibres forming an almost continuous sheet around their respective lumens.
occasional twists and splits are seen in the pattern, especially around the dark "holes" that may contain the nuclei.
ultrastructurally  the oviduct myofibrils are significantly thicker in cross section than those in the peritoneal and epithelial sheaths around the ovariole, but are structurally identical .
the perforated z-discs are very clear .
infrequently isolated areas are seen in which thick and thin filaments  are cut in cross-section.
this may reflect the observation that not all the myofibrils within a fibre show exactly the same orientation .
although myofilaments may occasionally deviate from the fibre's long axis, the overall structure shown by confocal fluorescence microscopy did not reveal any fibres or myofibrils running longitudinally in the wall of the oviduct.
the oviduct lumen  is lined by an epithelial layer  that shows convoluted intracellular membranous structures and extensive microvilli on the apical surface.
it seems likely that these are involved in the transport of ions and various molecules  <cit>  to produce oviduct secretions that facilitate egg movement.
the epithelial layer has separated from the muscle layer in this sample, which may indicate that the two layers are not strongly adherent in vivo.
the circular myofibrils and muscle layer of the uterus  are much more substantial than those of the oviducts and there is no evidence of longitudinal myofibres.
within a single myofibre, neighbouring myofibrils often appear to be in approximate register  and the myofibres seem to have tapered ends.
it is not known whether these represent attachment sites through which the muscle forces are applied to the uterus or whether this occurs along the length of the myofibres.
ultrastructural studies show  the sarcomeric structure of the myofibrils, again with perforated z-discs.
the muscle layer is exterior to the epithelial lining of the uterine lumen.
the cells in the uterine epithelium, like those of the oviduct , show a considerable amount of convoluted membranous structures consistent with secretory activity.
in all the regions of the female reproductive tract examined, we found no evidence for longitudinal muscle fibres, though occasional twisting, oblique or longitudinal myo fibrils were seen in the oviduct.
our confocal and ultrastructural observations show that the fibres are striated and their myofibrils have perforated z-discs indicating that all the muscles are supercontractile  <cit> .
innervation
the female genital tract is bilaterally innervated by two pairs of nerves that branch separately from the abdominal median nerve trunk   <cit> .
one nerve projects to the junction of the ovaries and lateral oviduct , where it branches repeatedly.
from here the nerves radiate anteriorly across the surface of the peritoneal sheath  <cit> .
fig.
<dig> shows the nerve fibres have a wandering appearance as they follow the peritoneal sheath muscle fibres.
they terminate on the peritoneal sheath, mostly in the posterior two-thirds of the ovary.
confocal z-stacks show the nerves remain outside the peritoneal sheath muscle layer; they do not dive into the gaps in the peritoneal sheath or contact the ovariolar epithelial sheath.
varicosities are observed at the ends of the nerves, and frequently also along their branches .
these were often oval and did not look like the "strings of pearls" typical of type i neuromuscular junctions seen on larval or adult body wall muscles  <cit> , and no glutamate receptor immunoreactivity was seen.
the shaker gene product  was not detected on the surface of the peritoneal sheath or the ovarioles , although myosin was expressed in both.
as the shaker-gfp signal was driven with a mhc driver, this suggests that the nerves do not construct type i boutons.
all the nerves on the surface of the peritoneal sheath show gfp fluorescence driven by the dtdc <dig> driver .
the dtdc <dig> gene normally expresses the neuron-specific tyrosine decarboxylase.
we did not find any hrp immunoreactive fibres without also detecting dtdc <dig> driven gfp fluorescence.
the nerve endings and varicosities all stain brightly with antisera to the drosophila vesicular monoamine transporter  with some staining visible between varicosities .
the abnvov also innervates the lateral oviduct and the upper portion of the common oviduct.
the lateral oviduct has the same type of innervation as the ovary, with fibres showing a similar pattern of varicosities and large endings with the same cytochemistry.
on the common oviduct, a dual pattern of innervation is present.
wandering fibres  similar to those on the peritoneal sheath and lateral oviduct are present and they co-localise with the dtdc <dig> gene marker , but show no glutamate receptor staining .
the second type of fibre often runs along the common oviduct , and has branches running circularly parallel to the myofibres , .
these neurons do not show dtdc <dig> driven gfp fluorescence or anti-dvmat immunostaining, or have the oval varicosities, but rather are associated with round blebs .
many of these blebs are correlated with gfp-label from the shaker potassium channel construct, though this fluorescence is in a focal plane closer to the muscle layer.
these blebs are also associated with glutamate receptor immunoreactivity .
the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles of the uterus are innervated by a second pair of nerves, branching from the abdominal median nerve trunk.
this pair of nerves  innervates both the extrinsic muscles and the circular myofibres .
these nerves have small boutons, closely apposed to larger, round blebs of shaker-fluorescence, suggesting type i-like terminals.
one branch projects to the inner layers of the uterus and shows our dtdc <dig> marker.
ovariograms
ovariograms were made by digital video microscopy of the isolated reproductive tract placed on a microscope slide.
data were analysed by overlaying lines on the computer image, and the movement of the light/dark interface along the line was determined .
fig.
<dig> shows the analysis of contractions of  <dig> ovarioles, the peritoneal sheath , oviduct and a spermatheca.
the ovariograms consistently show that the isolated genital tract is spontaneously active.
the ovarioles, peritoneal sheath, oviduct and spermathecae contract rhythmically and for the most part independently.
oviduct contractions are often associated with those of the peritoneal sheath; they last 1– <dig> seconds and have a rapid rise and fall.
however, oviduct movements, rather than contractions, are also correlated with that of the spermatheca, owing to their strong mechanical coupling.
these are much more gradual and last for 10– <dig> seconds.
each ovariole moves independently within the peritoneal sheath, with the mean rate being  <dig>  ±  <dig>  contractions/minute .
there is a very diverse pattern of contractions: some move almost continuously, with up to  <dig> contractions/minute , others with regular bouts of activity and others remaining largely quiescent .
as shown by the traces in fig.
<dig>  different ovarioles with a single ovary behave quite differently
the largest recorded movements are those of the spermathecae.
these are on the termini of a long thin duct, which contracts or rotates the spermatheca, so that its movements are always very large.
in 7-day-old flies these show regular contractions  with individual contractions lasting 5–6s.
contractions of the peritoneal sheath are largest at the base of the ovary and so most easily recorded here.
in 7-day-old flies the mean frequency of contractions was  <dig>  ±  <dig> /minute .
in a few flies, we observed eggs leaving the ovary; the progress of the egg was correlated with bursts of contraction.
the signal/noise ratio for the peritoneal sheath contractions is quite low in 7-day-old flies, when measuring the position of the light/dark boundary.
using the mean square intensity method gives good clear recordings of the peritoneal sheath waveform , while in 3-day-old flies, the amplitude of contractions is bigger than in 7-day-old flies because the eggs are less developed and so the sheath is less taut.
consequently the signal/noise ratio is better and the waves are clear to see .
we isolated ovaries from 3-day-old flies and used their ovariograms  to investigate the regularity of the peritoneal sheath contractions.
in at least half the preparations, wavepaths across the peritoneal sheath vary, with some waves having a single contraction peak and others multiple peaks .
by overlaying each wave, aligning the peaks for the tip, we found that some waves occurred at the tip before the base, while other moved from base to tip, and others had a complex biphasic wavepath .
in other preparations, we observed a consistent pattern, for example in fig.
8b, where the wave of contraction consistently moved from the tip to the base.
individual ovarioles teased from ovaries still contract spontaneously.
each has its own pattern of bursts, with waves moving both backwards or forwards along the ovariolar epithelial sheath .
this is unlike the observations reported from drosophila hydei where waves always moved from the base  to the tip of the ovariole  <cit> .
the mean contraction frequency of isolated ovarioles,  <dig>  ±  <dig>  contractions/minute is about one third of their activity within the intact ovary.
the fast fourier transform  reveals that the spermathecae have the greatest power density at  <dig>  contractions/minute, owing to their freedom to move with large amplitude as their ducts contract and rotate.
the spermatheca fft has prominent sidebands, as would be expected from their tendency to remain contracted for 5–6s.
the oviduct  share many peaks with the spermatheca, as they are tightly mechanically coupled in this isolated preparation.
the peritoneal sheath contractions show a series of small peaks in the spectrum from  <dig> to  <dig> contractions/minute, reflecting endogenous peritoneal sheath contractions, some shared with the oviduct.
the ovarioles have a different peak power density, in the range  <dig> to  <dig> contractions/minute.
pharmacology
we have begun our pharmacological analysis by examining the response of the peritoneal sheath to octopamine and tyramine because the contractions of the peritoneal sheath are an essential first step in the movement of the egg along the reproductive tract.
we used the ovary and oviduct preparation to avoid contamination of the traces by spermathecal or uterine contractions.
the mean duration of the samples was  <dig> ±  <dig> s.
our ovariograms from 7-day-old flies show that the amplitude of the peritoneal sheath contractions at the base of the ovary increases with  <dig> nm octopamine  .
in contrast, tyramine application at doses up to  <dig> μm has no significant effect on the amplitude .
after application of the neuromodulator, preparations were washed and the contraction amplitudes measured to be 83% of the control value .
the mean frequency of peritoneal sheath contractions from 7-day-old flies  did not change significantly following application of octopamine or tyramine, either by comparison of all preparations or by paired comparison of individual preparations .
contractions typically occur in bouts, which occur every  <dig> – <dig>  minutes.
we used a minimum interburst interval of  <dig>  minutes and determined the mean frequency of bouts to be  <dig>  ±  <dig>  bouts/minute.
the occurrence of bouts was also not affected by either of these drugs .
discussion
muscle movements of the genital tract
the female reproductive tract is a muscular system, in which contractions are linked to movement of the eggs down the tract from ovarioles via the oviducts to the uterus and finally oviposition of the fertilised eggs.
we have described circular fibres in the muscle layers of tubular tissues of the drosophila reproductive tract .
in the walls of the larval and adult gut and in some other insect duct systems, the layers of circular muscles are frequently opposed by longitudinal muscles  <cit> .
longitudinal fibres were apparently detected during development of the drosophila ovary  <cit> , and have been found, along with circular myofibres, in the ovaries of a number of lepidoptera including the silk moth hyalophora cecropia  <cit> , the flour moth ephestia kühniella  <cit> , the sugar cane borer diatraea saccharalis  <cit>  and the butterfly calpodes ethlius  <cit> .
however, we have found no evidence for the presence of longitudinal fibres in the female drosophila genital tract using electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry or directed gfp expression.
this is consistent with the movements measured in our ovariograms, where peristaltic waves, but not shortening, were observed.
the drosophila ovary is covered by a peritoneal sheath, which as noted by others  <cit>  contains a network of muscle fibres.
similar sheaths have been reported from other diptera  <cit>  and may perform a similar function to that of the longitudinal fibres described in other insects; the lepidopteran ovaries lack peritoneal sheaths.
the neural co-ordination of muscle contractions in the drosophila peritoneal sheath and various tubular muscles are likely to be important for egg development and oviposition.
these contractions may also be important for moving the haemolymph around the reproductive tract, especially within the ovary during the energetically and nutritionally demanding process of oogenesis.
our anti-hrp immunostaining showed that the nerves to the ovary run along the peritoneal sheath network, outside the muscle layer rather than among its myofibrils.
we have detected no direct innervation of the myofibres of the ovariolar epithelial sheath.
thus it seems likely that the contractions of the ovariole sheath are controlled by a  hormonal mechanism.
this would fit with the persistence of spontaneous myogenic contractile activity in the isolated ovariole.
the peritoneal sheath and lateral oviduct have a common pattern of innervation, in which the nerve fibres make oval varicosities, both along their length and at their endings.
this is much closer to the type ii neuromuscular junction boutons described in adult thoracic muscles  <cit>  than to the type i. we propose that they are modulatory terminals: a suggestion supported by the lack of the shaker channels, which are usually seen opposite type i terminals  <cit> , as is glutamate receptor immunostaining.
the lack of shaker and glutamate fluorescence was not due to poor staining as the common oviduct and uterus of the same specimens consistently showed them at similar confocal settings.
we have direct evidence that these nerves are all aminergic using two markers for tyramine and octopamine synthesising neurons.
first, we used a brighter gfp to extend previous data  <cit> , showing the presence of dtdc <dig> gfp marker on the peritoneal sheath  <cit>  by demonstrating that this marker highlights not just some but all the nerves running over the surface of the peritoneal sheath.
as tyrosine decarboxylase  is essential for the production of both tyramine and octopamine the implication is that these are all tyramine and/or octopamine releasing neurons.
secondly, we find that all the terminals are immunostained with the drosophila vesicular monoamine transporter  antiserum  <cit> .
there is a difference in intracellular location of dtdc <dig> gfp and dvmat staining: the dtdc <dig> gfp co-localises with hrp marker along the length of the neurons, while the dvmat is only seen at and between varicosities.
the ovarial innervation was detected with an antiserum to tyramine β-hydroxylase, the enzyme that converts tyramine to octopamine  <cit> .
an antiserum to the oamb octopamine receptor shows staining in the lateral and common oviducts, in the peritoneal sheath and possibly in the ovarioles  <cit> .
taken together these observations further support the contention that these neurons release octopamine and or tyramine at the peritoneal sheath and our ovariograms confirm that octopamine increases peritoneal sheath contractions.
although the fibres seen by these approaches are the same as we find by anti-hrp staining, it remains possible that not all the neurons use tyramine/octopamine, and that a proportion of the neurons use other transmitters or use a co-transmitter  to modulate the activity of the ovary.
anatomically similar endings have been described on the hindgut and shown to be proctolin-immunoreactive  <cit> .
the common oviduct and uterus show a second pattern of innervation, where nerves, ending as round boutons, on the muscle fibre layers were common.
nerve and muscle are arranged systematically, with nerve branches running parallel to the circular muscle fibres.
here we found glutamate receptors .
our detection of these receptors and of the post-synaptic shaker channel under the blebs, both typical of adult type i neuromuscular junctions  <cit> , coupled with synaptotagmin immunostaining of the fine endings in the muscle layer  <cit> , suggests conventional neuromuscular junctions rather than those associated with neurohormonal release.
in the oviduct, we also observed modulatory endings very similar to those found on the peritoneal sheath, in agreement with the dtdc <dig> or tyramine β-hydroxylase staining  <cit> .
modulatory endings in the luminal layers of the uterine muscle have not been reported previously.
ovariograms
observations of movement in isolated ovaries has been reported previously using casual observations or videotape  <cit> .
our technique to quantify the movement of the drosophila reproductive tract shows persistent, steady recordings in hl- <dig> saline.
discrimination of movement of different parts of the reproductive tract shows that the ovarioles, the peritoneal sheath of the ovary, oviduct and spermatheca all generate independent contractions.
in each organ, waves of contraction come in bursts, separated by longer quiescent periods.
these have all been recorded in isolation from the cns and so are myogenic in origin.
this is confirmed by the persistence of ovariolar rhythms in the isolated ovariole, and by the continued contraction of the peritoneal sheath in the isolated ovary.
myogenic rhythms have been recorded from a range of insect visceral tissues, including the gut and reproductive organs.
in the gut, different regions display independent rhythms, where bath-applied amines and peptides modulate large changes in the amplitude and frequency of contractions  <cit> .
pharmacology
our data indicate that octopamine significantly increases the amplitude of the peritoneal sheath contractions.
in locusts , octopamine reduces the spontaneous contractions of the oviduct  <cit> .
it diminishes both the frequency of the myogenic rhythm and basal tone.
in addition, octopamine reduces the proctolin-induced contractions of the oviduct, with 50% block between 10- <dig> and 10- <dig> m. similar data come from a dipteran, the stable fly , in which octopamine also causes a reduction in the spontaneous and proctolin-induced contractions of the oviduct  <cit> .
our data have led us to a new model in which tissue-specific differences are important.
octopamine increases the strength of contractions of the peritoneal sheath, which will facilitate ovulation of the egg.
at the same time, we expect octopamine to relax the oviduct, so that the egg can move into it more easily.
thus, one neuromodulator acts on two neighbouring zones with opposing effects to enhance reproductive success.
this hypothesis is in accord with the locust oviduct data, and also with stomoxys, where 10– <dig> nm octopamine increases the amplitude of ovarian contractions but relaxes the oviduct  <cit> .
this model resolves a paradox.
previous authors found it hard to reconcile observations that flies lacking octopamine  or with a null mutation in the oamb type of octopamine receptor lay fewer eggs than wild type  <cit>  with the fact that octopamine reduces reproductive tract contractions.
our observations provide a simple explanation for the loss of egg-laying in octopamine-free flies: we suggest that octopamine is likely to be released during egg-laying behaviour to enhance the strength of ovarian contractions and to relax the oviduct and so speed the egg along the reproductive tract.
octopamine may also affect the spermatheca; in locusts the spermathecal contractions were increased by octopamine  <cit> , and the oviduct relaxed  <cit> .
finally, we showed that tyramine had no effect on the amplitude of the contractions.
this is different from the response of the locust oviduct, where tyramine had a very similar inhibitory effect to octopamine on the contraction frequency and basal tone  <cit> .
in locust, the effect of octopamine was mediated by camp, but the tyramine response did not depend on a camp pathway except at very high  concentrations.
this suggests a difference in receptor activation.
in flies, several "octopamine" receptors have been reported.
one sensitive to both tyramine and octopamine   <cit>  is unlikely to be the receptor on the peritoneal sheath, which was only sensitive to octopamine.
at least four receptors  are two orders of magnitude more sensitive to octopamine than tyramine, in accord with our pharmacology, and so may be present on the peritoneal sheath.
although oamb has been localised on the oviduct  <cit> , the receptor on the peritoneal sheath awaits identification.
CONCLUSIONS
the reproductive tract of the female fly has only circular muscles and no longitudinal muscles.
they are supercontractile, which is appropriate for a system that has to distend when the egg passes through.
the muscles have complex, bursting myogenic rhythms, with independent oscillators in the ovarioles, in the peritoneal sheath around the ovary and in the spermatheca.
the ovary is innervated solely by modulatory neurons, which are tyraminergic and/or octopaminergic.
the oviduct and uterus are innervated both by similar aminergic fibres and by glutamatergic neurons with endings similar to type i neuromuscular junction.
octopamine, but not tyramine, modulates the peritoneal sheath around the ovary, increasing the strength of the contraction, and we propose it also relaxes the oviduct.
this double effect eases the ovulation of the egg from the ovary to the oviduct.

 the amines octopamine and tyramine are apparently ubiquitous in arthropods, with neuromodulatory roles in a wide range of behaviours including jumping, flight, courtship and even social interactions. although cellular actions of these neuromodulators have been described, in both the cns and pns, their exact roles in behaviour have resisted pharmacological approaches largely because of cross-talk between members of the amine receptor family. recently, the sequenced drosophila genome, together with genetic knockouts of synthetic enzymes or receptors, have provided new tools to address the roles of these neuromodulators. these include two fly mutants in which the neurogenic amines octopamine or tyramine are not synthesized and others in which one class of octopamine or tyramine receptors is deficient. surprisingly, these knockouts survive and appeared to behave "normally", but when fly behaviour was examined in detail, jumping ability was reduced by one-third and egg-laying performance was dramatically reduced, if not abolished, suggesting that a detailed understanding of the neuromuscular basis of egg-laying would provide an excellent system for gaining an understanding of amine action. the neuromuscular organization of egg-laying in drosophila and its neuro-hormonal regulation remain poorly understood. this is surprising since many mutant lines are known in which egg-laying is reduced. further, it is clear that the female fly controls oviposition to ensure the eggs are laid on a suitable substrate. we are now able to advance this as we show below that the isolated drosophila female reproductive tract maintains activity in vitro. this allows us to separate out aminergic modulation on the reproductive tract musculature from aminergic effects on the cns, in ways not previously possible. the drosophila female reproductive tract is shown in fig. the eggs are formed by the ovarioles, which compose the ovary. at the tip of each ovariole is a germarium: this divides repeatedly to give a series of egg chambers, containing nurse cells, an oocyte and follicle cells. as the egg chambers progress down the ovariole, they enlarge. in the final stages the nurse cell contents are transferred to the developing oocyte, the nurse cells die and the chorion is laid down, leaving a mature oocyte. development of the oocyte is then paused until it is released from the ovary into the lateral oviduct. it then moves into the common oviduct and into the uterus. here, if the female has mated, the egg will be fertilised. finally, it is oviposited on to the substrate. we have used an integrative approach to examine the neuromuscular organisation of the female genital tract, describing each muscle layer and their patterns of contraction. we show that the peritoneal sheath around the ovary and upper reaches of the oviduct are innervated by modulatory neurons, with more conventional synapses occurring in the common oviduct and uterus, but the epithelial sheaths of the individual ovarioles are not. we have developed a novel technique to record ovariograms, and use this to show that each organ in the genital tract appears to have its own endogenous myogenic rhythm, with the amplitude of ovarian contractions increased by octopamine.  muscle structure the histology and ultrastructure of the major components of the female reproductive tract in drosophila have been outlined previously and here we provide particulars of the musculature. throughout the tract, the muscle fibres are striated with a clearly defined sarcomeric structure, typical of visceral muscles in insects. there is no evidence to support a claim that the epithelial and peritoneal sheath fibres are'smooth'. each ovariole is surrounded by an epithelial sheath forming an open mesh around the ovary. scanning electron micrographs show the presence of large gaps in the peritoneal sheath below which the epithelial sheaths of the ovarioles can be seen. em sections cut longitudinally to myofibres of the peritoneal sheath or of the two neighbouring epithelial sheaths show the rather irregular interdigitation of the thick and thin filaments and the presence of perforated z-discs. these are both characteristic of muscles that are supercontractile. supercontractile muscles occur in the insect viscera and in the larval body wall musculature. this is the first indication that these peritoneal sheath muscle fibres may be supercontractile, but this is not surprising given the large volume changes that occur during post-eclosional maturation of the ovary and oogenesis. the muscles in the walls of the common and lateral oviducts are indistinguishable. confocal fluorescence microscopy shows that they are striated muscles consisting of an ordered array of circular myofibres forming an almost continuous sheet around their respective lumens. occasional twists and splits are seen in the pattern, especially around the dark "holes" that may contain the nuclei. ultrastructurally the oviduct myofibrils are significantly thicker in cross section than those in the peritoneal and epithelial sheaths around the ovariole, but are structurally identical. the perforated z-discs are very clear. infrequently isolated areas are seen in which thick and thin filaments are cut in cross-section. this may reflect the observation that not all the myofibrils within a fibre show exactly the same orientation. although myofilaments may occasionally deviate from the fibre's long axis, the overall structure shown by confocal fluorescence microscopy did not reveal any fibres or myofibrils running longitudinally in the wall of the oviduct. the oviduct lumen is lined by an epithelial layer that shows convoluted intracellular membranous structures and extensive microvilli on the apical surface. it seems likely that these are involved in the transport of ions and various molecules to produce oviduct secretions that facilitate egg movement. the epithelial layer has separated from the muscle layer in this sample, which may indicate that the two layers are not strongly adherent in vivo. the circular myofibrils and muscle layer of the uterus are much more substantial than those of the oviducts and there is no evidence of longitudinal myofibres. within a single myofibre, neighbouring myofibrils often appear to be in approximate register and the myofibres seem to have tapered ends. it is not known whether these represent attachment sites through which the muscle forces are applied to the uterus or whether this occurs along the length of the myofibres. ultrastructural studies show the sarcomeric structure of the myofibrils, again with perforated z-discs. the muscle layer is exterior to the epithelial lining of the uterine lumen. the cells in the uterine epithelium, like those of the oviduct, show a considerable amount of convoluted membranous structures consistent with secretory activity. in all the regions of the female reproductive tract examined, we found no evidence for longitudinal muscle fibres, though occasional twisting, oblique or longitudinal myo fibrils were seen in the oviduct. our confocal and ultrastructural observations show that the fibres are striated and their myofibrils have perforated z-discs indicating that all the muscles are supercontractile. innervation the female genital tract is bilaterally innervated by two pairs of nerves that branch separately from the abdominal median nerve trunk. one nerve projects to the junction of the ovaries and lateral oviduct, where it branches repeatedly. from here the nerves radiate anteriorly across the surface of the peritoneal sheath. fig. shows the nerve fibres have a wandering appearance as they follow the peritoneal sheath muscle fibres. they terminate on the peritoneal sheath, mostly in the posterior two-thirds of the ovary. confocal z-stacks show the nerves remain outside the peritoneal sheath muscle layer; they do not dive into the gaps in the peritoneal sheath or contact the ovariolar epithelial sheath. varicosities are observed at the ends of the nerves, and frequently also along their branches. these were often oval and did not look like the "strings of pearls" typical of type i neuromuscular junctions seen on larval or adult body wall muscles, and no glutamate receptor immunoreactivity was seen. the shaker gene product was not detected on the surface of the peritoneal sheath or the ovarioles, although myosin was expressed in both. as the shaker-gfp signal was driven with a mhc driver, this suggests that the nerves do not construct type i boutons. all the nerves on the surface of the peritoneal sheath show gfp fluorescence driven by the dtdc driver. the dtdc gene normally expresses the neuron-specific tyrosine decarboxylase. we did not find any hrp immunoreactive fibres without also detecting dtdc driven gfp fluorescence. the nerve endings and varicosities all stain brightly with antisera to the drosophila vesicular monoamine transporter with some staining visible between varicosities. the abnvov also innervates the lateral oviduct and the upper portion of the common oviduct. the lateral oviduct has the same type of innervation as the ovary, with fibres showing a similar pattern of varicosities and large endings with the same cytochemistry. on the common oviduct, a dual pattern of innervation is present. wandering fibres similar to those on the peritoneal sheath and lateral oviduct are present and they co-localise with the dtdc gene marker, but show no glutamate receptor staining. the second type of fibre often runs along the common oviduct, and has branches running circularly parallel to the myofibres,. these neurons do not show dtdc driven gfp fluorescence or anti-dvmat immunostaining, or have the oval varicosities, but rather are associated with round blebs. many of these blebs are correlated with gfp-label from the shaker potassium channel construct, though this fluorescence is in a focal plane closer to the muscle layer. these blebs are also associated with glutamate receptor immunoreactivity. the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles of the uterus are innervated by a second pair of nerves, branching from the abdominal median nerve trunk. this pair of nerves innervates both the extrinsic muscles and the circular myofibres. these nerves have small boutons, closely apposed to larger, round blebs of shaker-fluorescence, suggesting type i-like terminals. one branch projects to the inner layers of the uterus and shows our dtdc marker. ovariograms ovariograms were made by digital video microscopy of the isolated reproductive tract placed on a microscope slide. data were analysed by overlaying lines on the computer image, and the movement of the light/dark interface along the line was determined. fig. shows the analysis of contractions of ovarioles, the peritoneal sheath, oviduct and a spermatheca. the ovariograms consistently show that the isolated genital tract is spontaneously active. the ovarioles, peritoneal sheath, oviduct and spermathecae contract rhythmically and for the most part independently. oviduct contractions are often associated with those of the peritoneal sheath; they last 1– seconds and have a rapid rise and fall. however, oviduct movements, rather than contractions, are also correlated with that of the spermatheca, owing to their strong mechanical coupling. these are much more gradual and last for 10– seconds. each ovariole moves independently within the peritoneal sheath, with the mean rate being ± contractions/minute. there is a very diverse pattern of contractions: some move almost continuously, with up to contractions/minute, others with regular bouts of activity and others remaining largely quiescent. as shown by the traces in fig. different ovarioles with a single ovary behave quite differently the largest recorded movements are those of the spermathecae. these are on the termini of a long thin duct, which contracts or rotates the spermatheca, so that its movements are always very large. in 7-day-old flies these show regular contractions with individual contractions lasting 5–6s. contractions of the peritoneal sheath are largest at the base of the ovary and so most easily recorded here. in 7-day-old flies the mean frequency of contractions was ± /minute. in a few flies, we observed eggs leaving the ovary; the progress of the egg was correlated with bursts of contraction. the signal/noise ratio for the peritoneal sheath contractions is quite low in 7-day-old flies, when measuring the position of the light/dark boundary. using the mean square intensity method gives good clear recordings of the peritoneal sheath waveform, while in 3-day-old flies, the amplitude of contractions is bigger than in 7-day-old flies because the eggs are less developed and so the sheath is less taut. consequently the signal/noise ratio is better and the waves are clear to see. we isolated ovaries from 3-day-old flies and used their ovariograms to investigate the regularity of the peritoneal sheath contractions. in at least half the preparations, wavepaths across the peritoneal sheath vary, with some waves having a single contraction peak and others multiple peaks. by overlaying each wave, aligning the peaks for the tip, we found that some waves occurred at the tip before the base, while other moved from base to tip, and others had a complex biphasic wavepath. in other preparations, we observed a consistent pattern, for example in fig. 8b, where the wave of contraction consistently moved from the tip to the base. individual ovarioles teased from ovaries still contract spontaneously. each has its own pattern of bursts, with waves moving both backwards or forwards along the ovariolar epithelial sheath. this is unlike the observations reported from drosophila hydei where waves always moved from the base to the tip of the ovariole. the mean contraction frequency of isolated ovarioles, ± contractions/minute is about one third of their activity within the intact ovary. the fast fourier transform reveals that the spermathecae have the greatest power density at contractions/minute, owing to their freedom to move with large amplitude as their ducts contract and rotate. the spermatheca fft has prominent sidebands, as would be expected from their tendency to remain contracted for 5–6s. the oviduct share many peaks with the spermatheca, as they are tightly mechanically coupled in this isolated preparation. the peritoneal sheath contractions show a series of small peaks in the spectrum from to contractions/minute, reflecting endogenous peritoneal sheath contractions, some shared with the oviduct. the ovarioles have a different peak power density, in the range to contractions/minute. pharmacology we have begun our pharmacological analysis by examining the response of the peritoneal sheath to octopamine and tyramine because the contractions of the peritoneal sheath are an essential first step in the movement of the egg along the reproductive tract. we used the ovary and oviduct preparation to avoid contamination of the traces by spermathecal or uterine contractions. the mean duration of the samples was ± s. our ovariograms from 7-day-old flies show that the amplitude of the peritoneal sheath contractions at the base of the ovary increases with nm octopamine. in contrast, tyramine application at doses up to μm has no significant effect on the amplitude. after application of the neuromodulator, preparations were washed and the contraction amplitudes measured to be 83% of the control value. the mean frequency of peritoneal sheath contractions from 7-day-old flies did not change significantly following application of octopamine or tyramine, either by comparison of all preparations or by paired comparison of individual preparations. contractions typically occur in bouts, which occur every – minutes. we used a minimum interburst interval of minutes and determined the mean frequency of bouts to be ± bouts/minute. the occurrence of bouts was also not affected by either of these drugs. discussion muscle movements of the genital tract the female reproductive tract is a muscular system, in which contractions are linked to movement of the eggs down the tract from ovarioles via the oviducts to the uterus and finally oviposition of the fertilised eggs. we have described circular fibres in the muscle layers of tubular tissues of the drosophila reproductive tract. in the walls of the larval and adult gut and in some other insect duct systems, the layers of circular muscles are frequently opposed by longitudinal muscles. longitudinal fibres were apparently detected during development of the drosophila ovary, and have been found, along with circular myofibres, in the ovaries of a number of lepidoptera including the silk moth hyalophora cecropia, the flour moth ephestia kühniella, the sugar cane borer diatraea saccharalis and the butterfly calpodes ethlius. however, we have found no evidence for the presence of longitudinal fibres in the female drosophila genital tract using electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry or directed gfp expression. this is consistent with the movements measured in our ovariograms, where peristaltic waves, but not shortening, were observed. the drosophila ovary is covered by a peritoneal sheath, which as noted by others contains a network of muscle fibres. similar sheaths have been reported from other diptera and may perform a similar function to that of the longitudinal fibres described in other insects; the lepidopteran ovaries lack peritoneal sheaths. the neural co-ordination of muscle contractions in the drosophila peritoneal sheath and various tubular muscles are likely to be important for egg development and oviposition. these contractions may also be important for moving the haemolymph around the reproductive tract, especially within the ovary during the energetically and nutritionally demanding process of oogenesis. our anti-hrp immunostaining showed that the nerves to the ovary run along the peritoneal sheath network, outside the muscle layer rather than among its myofibrils. we have detected no direct innervation of the myofibres of the ovariolar epithelial sheath. thus it seems likely that the contractions of the ovariole sheath are controlled by a hormonal mechanism. this would fit with the persistence of spontaneous myogenic contractile activity in the isolated ovariole. the peritoneal sheath and lateral oviduct have a common pattern of innervation, in which the nerve fibres make oval varicosities, both along their length and at their endings. this is much closer to the type ii neuromuscular junction boutons described in adult thoracic muscles than to the type i. we propose that they are modulatory terminals: a suggestion supported by the lack of the shaker channels, which are usually seen opposite type i terminals, as is glutamate receptor immunostaining. the lack of shaker and glutamate fluorescence was not due to poor staining as the common oviduct and uterus of the same specimens consistently showed them at similar confocal settings. we have direct evidence that these nerves are all aminergic using two markers for tyramine and octopamine synthesising neurons. first, we used a brighter gfp to extend previous data, showing the presence of dtdc gfp marker on the peritoneal sheath by demonstrating that this marker highlights not just some but all the nerves running over the surface of the peritoneal sheath. as tyrosine decarboxylase is essential for the production of both tyramine and octopamine the implication is that these are all tyramine and/or octopamine releasing neurons. secondly, we find that all the terminals are immunostained with the drosophila vesicular monoamine transporter antiserum. there is a difference in intracellular location of dtdc gfp and dvmat staining: the dtdc gfp co-localises with hrp marker along the length of the neurons, while the dvmat is only seen at and between varicosities. the ovarial innervation was detected with an antiserum to tyramine β-hydroxylase, the enzyme that converts tyramine to octopamine. an antiserum to the oamb octopamine receptor shows staining in the lateral and common oviducts, in the peritoneal sheath and possibly in the ovarioles. taken together these observations further support the contention that these neurons release octopamine and or tyramine at the peritoneal sheath and our ovariograms confirm that octopamine increases peritoneal sheath contractions. although the fibres seen by these approaches are the same as we find by anti-hrp staining, it remains possible that not all the neurons use tyramine/octopamine, and that a proportion of the neurons use other transmitters or use a co-transmitter to modulate the activity of the ovary. anatomically similar endings have been described on the hindgut and shown to be proctolin-immunoreactive. the common oviduct and uterus show a second pattern of innervation, where nerves, ending as round boutons, on the muscle fibre layers were common. nerve and muscle are arranged systematically, with nerve branches running parallel to the circular muscle fibres. here we found glutamate receptors. our detection of these receptors and of the post-synaptic shaker channel under the blebs, both typical of adult type i neuromuscular junctions, coupled with synaptotagmin immunostaining of the fine endings in the muscle layer, suggests conventional neuromuscular junctions rather than those associated with neurohormonal release. in the oviduct, we also observed modulatory endings very similar to those found on the peritoneal sheath, in agreement with the dtdc or tyramine β-hydroxylase staining. modulatory endings in the luminal layers of the uterine muscle have not been reported previously. ovariograms observations of movement in isolated ovaries has been reported previously using casual observations or videotape. our technique to quantify the movement of the drosophila reproductive tract shows persistent, steady recordings in hl- saline. discrimination of movement of different parts of the reproductive tract shows that the ovarioles, the peritoneal sheath of the ovary, oviduct and spermatheca all generate independent contractions. in each organ, waves of contraction come in bursts, separated by longer quiescent periods. these have all been recorded in isolation from the cns and so are myogenic in origin. this is confirmed by the persistence of ovariolar rhythms in the isolated ovariole, and by the continued contraction of the peritoneal sheath in the isolated ovary. myogenic rhythms have been recorded from a range of insect visceral tissues, including the gut and reproductive organs. in the gut, different regions display independent rhythms, where bath-applied amines and peptides modulate large changes in the amplitude and frequency of contractions. pharmacology our data indicate that octopamine significantly increases the amplitude of the peritoneal sheath contractions. in locusts, octopamine reduces the spontaneous contractions of the oviduct. it diminishes both the frequency of the myogenic rhythm and basal tone. in addition, octopamine reduces the proctolin-induced contractions of the oviduct, with 50% block between 10- and 10- m. similar data come from a dipteran, the stable fly, in which octopamine also causes a reduction in the spontaneous and proctolin-induced contractions of the oviduct. our data have led us to a new model in which tissue-specific differences are important. octopamine increases the strength of contractions of the peritoneal sheath, which will facilitate ovulation of the egg. at the same time, we expect octopamine to relax the oviduct, so that the egg can move into it more easily. thus, one neuromodulator acts on two neighbouring zones with opposing effects to enhance reproductive success. this hypothesis is in accord with the locust oviduct data, and also with stomoxys, where 10– nm octopamine increases the amplitude of ovarian contractions but relaxes the oviduct. this model resolves a paradox. previous authors found it hard to reconcile observations that flies lacking octopamine or with a null mutation in the oamb type of octopamine receptor lay fewer eggs than wild type with the fact that octopamine reduces reproductive tract contractions. our observations provide a simple explanation for the loss of egg-laying in octopamine-free flies: we suggest that octopamine is likely to be released during egg-laying behaviour to enhance the strength of ovarian contractions and to relax the oviduct and so speed the egg along the reproductive tract. octopamine may also affect the spermatheca; in locusts the spermathecal contractions were increased by octopamine, and the oviduct relaxed. finally, we showed that tyramine had no effect on the amplitude of the contractions. this is different from the response of the locust oviduct, where tyramine had a very similar inhibitory effect to octopamine on the contraction frequency and basal tone. in locust, the effect of octopamine was mediated by camp, but the tyramine response did not depend on a camp pathway except at very high concentrations. this suggests a difference in receptor activation. in flies, several "octopamine" receptors have been reported. one sensitive to both tyramine and octopamine is unlikely to be the receptor on the peritoneal sheath, which was only sensitive to octopamine. at least four receptors are two orders of magnitude more sensitive to octopamine than tyramine, in accord with our pharmacology, and so may be present on the peritoneal sheath. although oamb has been localised on the oviduct, the receptor on the peritoneal sheath awaits identification.  the reproductive tract of the female fly has only circular muscles and no longitudinal muscles. they are supercontractile, which is appropriate for a system that has to distend when the egg passes through. the muscles have complex, bursting myogenic rhythms, with independent oscillators in the ovarioles, in the peritoneal sheath around the ovary and in the spermatheca. the ovary is innervated solely by modulatory neurons, which are tyraminergic and/or octopaminergic. the oviduct and uterus are innervated both by similar aminergic fibres and by glutamatergic neurons with endings similar to type i neuromuscular junction. octopamine, but not tyramine, modulates the peritoneal sheath around the ovary, increasing the strength of the contraction, and we propose it also relaxes the oviduct. this double effect eases the ovulation of the egg from the ovary to the oviduct. 
peritoneal sheath contractions move over the ovary, from tip to base or vice versa, propagating down the oviduct. neither affects the frequency of peritoneal sheath contractions. we propose a new model of tissue-specific actions of octopamine, in which strengthening of peritoneal sheath contractions, coupled with relaxation of the oviduct, eases ovulation. individual ovarioles are contained within a contractile epithelial sheath. the common oviduct and uterus are innervated by two classes of neurons, one with similar morphology to those of the peritoneal sheath and another with repeated branches and axon endings similar to type i neuromuscular junctions. no longitudinal muscle fibres are seen. they all express tyrosine decarboxylase and drosophila vesicular monoamine transporter. despite a large number of drosophila mutants that cannot lay eggs, the way that the egg is moved along the reproductive tract from ovary to uterus is less well understood. we remedy this with an integrative study on the reproductive tract muscles in female flies. the muscle fibres of the reproductive tract are circular and have complex bursting myogenic rhythms under octopaminergic neuromodulation. neurons that innervate the peritoneal sheath and lateral oviduct have many varicosities and terminate in swellings just outside the muscles of the peritoneal sheath. each ovary, consisting of 15– ovarioles, is surrounded by a contractile meshwork, the peritoneal sheath. the amplitude of contractions of the peritoneal sheath increase in octopamine but μm tyramine has no effect. each genital tract organ exhibits its own endogenous myogenic rhythm. the oviduct and uterine walls contain a circular striated muscle layer. both sheaths contain striated muscle fibres.
 the processes by which eggs develop in the insect ovary are well characterized. despite a large number of drosophila mutants that cannot lay eggs, the way that the egg is moved along the reproductive tract from ovary to uterus is less well understood. we remedy this with an integrative study on the reproductive tract muscles in female flies.  each ovary, consisting of 15– ovarioles, is surrounded by a contractile meshwork, the peritoneal sheath. individual ovarioles are contained within a contractile epithelial sheath. both sheaths contain striated muscle fibres. the oviduct and uterine walls contain a circular striated muscle layer. no longitudinal muscle fibres are seen. neurons that innervate the peritoneal sheath and lateral oviduct have many varicosities and terminate in swellings just outside the muscles of the peritoneal sheath. they all express tyrosine decarboxylase and drosophila vesicular monoamine transporter. no fibres innervate the ovarioles. the common oviduct and uterus are innervated by two classes of neurons, one with similar morphology to those of the peritoneal sheath and another with repeated branches and axon endings similar to type i neuromuscular junctions. in isolated genital tracts from 3- and 7-day old flies, each ovariole contracts irregularly. peritoneal sheath contractions move over the ovary, from tip to base or vice versa, propagating down the oviduct. rhythmical spermathecal rotations also occur. each genital tract organ exhibits its own endogenous myogenic rhythm. the amplitude of contractions of the peritoneal sheath increase in octopamine but μm tyramine has no effect. neither affects the frequency of peritoneal sheath contractions.  the muscle fibres of the reproductive tract are circular and have complex bursting myogenic rhythms under octopaminergic neuromodulation. we propose a new model of tissue-specific actions of octopamine, in which strengthening of peritoneal sheath contractions, coupled with relaxation of the oviduct, eases ovulation. this model accounts for reduced ovulation in flies with mutations in the octopaminergic system. 