Animals use olfaction to detect developmentally significant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their local environment. As part of a wider study aiming to demonstrate that the olfactory responses of animals to VOCs can be modified through the creation of a drug-addicted status and association with a selected VOC, we investigated nicotine and tobacco smoke particulate (TSP) extract as possible addictive compounds for male German cockroaches, Blattella germanica (Linnaeus). In feeding experiments using an artificial food stimulus, food treated with TSP extract was preferred over untreated food. Surprisingly, nicotine, which was expected to be the most important addictive tobacco component, did not induce noticeable effects on cockroach behavior. Both TSP extract and nicotine were shown to be phagostimulants. Olfactometry assays that measured odor-mediated insect behavior demonstrated that male B. germanica did not choose TSP-extract-treated food even when attempts were made specifically to train them via this modality. These results support a hypothesis that B. germanica needs to consume TSP-containing food to show a clear preference for this stimulus and that gustatory mechanisms are involved due to compounds present in the TSP extract.

中文翻译：

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尼古丁和烟草相关产品对德国小蠊 (Blattodea: Blattellidae) 摄食行为的影响

动物使用嗅觉来检测当地环境中具有发育意义的挥发性有机化合物 (VOC)。作为旨在证明动物对 VOC 的嗅觉反应可以通过产生药物成瘾状态并与选定的 VOC 关联来改变的更广泛研究的一部分，我们调查了尼古丁和烟草烟雾颗粒 (TSP) 提取物是否可能使人上瘾雄性德国小蠊，德国小蠊 (Linnaeus) 的化合物。在使用人工食物刺激的喂养实验中，用 TSP 提取物处理的食物优于未经处理的食物。令人惊讶的是，被认为是最重要的烟草成瘾成分的尼古丁并没有对蟑螂的行为产生明显的影响。TSP 提取物和尼古丁都被证明是诱食剂。测量气味介导的昆虫行为的嗅觉测定表明，雄性德国双歧杆菌不会选择经过 TSP 提取物处理的食物，即使专门尝试通过这种方式训练它们。这些结果支持了一个假设，即德国双歧杆菌需要食用含 TSP 的食物才能表现出对这种刺激的明显偏好，并且由于 TSP 提取物中存在的化合物而涉及味觉机制。