Anti-depressants make amphipods see the light

Modulation of appetite and feeding behavior of the larval mosquito Aedes aegypti (L.) by the serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitor paroxetine: shifts between distinct feeding modes and the influence of feeding status.

“…Central serotonergic pathways are strongly associated with appetite and satiation, and play an important role in the integration of feeding with other behavioral states including locomotion, vigilance, aggression and reproduction (Gruninger et al, 2007;Il-Han et al, 2010;Huber et al, 1997;Anstey et al, 2009;Thamm et al, 2010;Guler and Ford, 2010;Gaudry and Kristan, 2012). Regulation of appetite and feeding by central serotonergic pathways appears to be an ancestral condition among bilateral animals.…”

Parasite-induced alterations of sensorimotor pathways in gammarids: collateral damage of neuroinflammation?

“…In contrast, the geotactic behavior of G. pulex was not affected by 5-HT (Tain et al, 2006). In yet another amphipod, Echinogammarus marinus, phototaxis and geotaxis increased significantly in a dose-dependent manner with exposure to serotonin (Guler and Ford, 2010). In this study, the biogenic amine was delivered not by a one-time injection into the hemocoel but by dilution in the seawater medium (10ngl Both chronic changes in response to light (shift in light preferendum toward zones of higher illumination, i.e.…”

“…Moreover, exposure to fluoxetine, but not to the anticonvulsant carbamazepine or the analgesic diclofenac, also significantly altered phototaxis and geotaxis activity in gammarids. Fluoxetine, better known as Prozac and Sarafem, is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and a widely prescribed anti-depressant that prolongs the effects of serotonin in the synaptic cleft (Guler and Ford, 2010). Injection of serotonin also modifies the behavior of decapod crustaceans.…”

Impacts of a newly identified behaviour-altering trematode on its host amphipod: from the level of gene expression to population

“…Of course, even assuming the chosen sequences represent genes critical to the regulation of host behaviour, it would still be uncertain whether the extent of altered regulation (e.g. ∼4-fold in the case of 5-HT 1A ) is sufficient to induce the observed behavioural changes (Guler and Ford, 2010). However, it is known that subtle differences in gene expression can lead to substantial neurological dysfunction (Tudor et al 2002) and therefore the observed expression changes in E. marinus may, to some extent, account for the observed behavioural phenotype.…”

“…However, the discovery that E. marinus can also be infected with a parasite apparently capable of manipulating host behaviour (Guler and Ford, 2010) has never been further investigated. In this case, infected specimens of the normally evasive E. marinus were found to spend significantly more time in the light and higher in the water column than uninfected individuals, a behaviour consistent with a parasitic strategy to increase trophic transmission.…”