Modeling stress and strain in an insect leg for simulation of campaniform sensilla responses to external forces

Abstract.

Campaniform sensilla (cs) on insect legs are stimulated by strain in the cuticle produced by forces applied to the leg, and generate action potentials when the strain is sufficiently high. We modeled the tibia of the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, as a hollow, circular tube and developed a simulation of cs responses to external forces by solving equations of mechanics as applied to the leg to obtain values for stress and strain, then converting strain to action potentials. Based on the close correspondence between our simulated responses and the 1981 physiological results of Zill and Moran, we suggest that our model may be useful in assessing the performance of experimentally inaccessible cs groups during walking.