Journal
PHARMACOLOGY BIOCHEMISTRY AND BEHAVIOR
Volume 75, Issue 1, Pages 217-222Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/S0091-3057(03)00070-4
Keywords
nicotinic receptor agonist; neonicotinoid; cholinergic system; nonassociative teaming; Apis mellifera
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Habituation of the proboscis extension reflex (PER) in honeybees (Apis mellifera) is age-dependent. Very young bees (less than or equal to7 days old) require significantly less trials to abolish the response to multiple sucrose stimulations than older bees (greater than or equal to8 days old). A nicotinic agonist, imidacloprid, modifies this behaviour by increasing the number of trials in less than or equal to7-day-old bees and by decreasing it in older bees [Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 76 (2001) 183.]. Here we tested our hypothesis that this effect is associated with a differential expression of two subtypes of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). By testing the effects of six metabolites of imidacloprid, we show that two of them, olefin and 5-hydroxy-imidacloprid, modify the number of trials needed to habituate the PER in a contrasting manner. Olefin increases the number of trials in both age groups, whereas 5-hydroxy-imidacloprid decreases the number of trials, but only in 8-day-old individuals. We conclude that olefin and 5-hydroxy-imidacloprid are specific agonists of two subtypes of an nAChR that are differentially expressed during adult maturation of young honeybees. Olefin is the agonist of an nAChR expressed in both age groups, whereas 5-hydroxy-imidacloprid is the agonist of a late-onset nAChR that is activated in 8-day-old bees. The implications of this finding for the honeybee biology are discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available