Ecdysone metabolism and distribution during the pupal-adult development of Manduca sexta

Thin-layer chromatographic procedures for lipid separation

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the techniques used for ecdysteroid analysis and the biosynthesis and metabolism of these hormones. Ecdysteroids could be defined either by their biological activity (molting hormones) or their chemical structure. The huge chemical diversity of ecdysteroids results from variations in the number and position of OH groups, which can be either free or conjugated to various polar or apolar moieties, giving rise to the 70 different molecules. The greatest diversity has been found in the eggs/embryos of Orthoptera and Lepidoptera, probably because they contain very large amounts of these molecules. The nomenclature of insect ecdysteroids is generally derived from the ecdysone name, but this is not always the case, and the trivial name of many ecdysteroids is related to the name of the species from which they have been isolated; standardized abbreviations have been proposed for insect ecdysteroids and are used.

S. Scalia

Papers

Reversed-phase thin-layer chromatography for the separation and analysis of ecdysteroids

Rapid and direct method for the determination of ecdy-steroid conjugates by liquid chromatography