Brood-care experience, nursing performance, and neural development in the ant Pheidole dentata

Muscedere, Mario L.; Djermoun, Anisa; Traniello, James F. A.

doi:10.1007/s00265-013-1501-1

Cited by 24 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Ant brains reflect evolutionary responses to social selection, and they possess 'social brains' in the same sense that nervous systems in all group-living animals reflect cognitive adaptations to the challenges of social life [Dunbar and Shultz, 2007]. Methods enabling analyses of the cellular and macroscopic neuroanatomy and neurochemistry of ant brains are well developed [Groh and Rössler, 2011;Muscedere et al, , 2013. There is currently unprecedented interest in brain miniaturi zation and its relation to sociality [Wehner et al, 2007;Chittka and Niven, 2009;Seid et al, 2011;Eberhard and Wcislo, 2012;Niven and Farris, 2012].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogenic Amines and Collective Organization in a Superorganism: Neuromodulation of Social Behavior in Ants

Kamhi¹,

Traniello²

2013

Brain Behav Evol

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The ecological dominance of ants has to a great extent been achieved through their collective action and complex social organization. Ants provide diverse model systems to examine the neural underpinnings of individual behavior and group action that contribute to their evolutionary success. Core elements of ant colony structure such as reproductive and ergonomic division of labor, task specialization, and social integration are beginning to be understood in terms of cellular neuroanatomy and neurochemistry. In this review we discuss the neuroethology of colony organization by focusing on the role of biogenic amines in the control of social behavior in ants. We examine the role of neuromodulation in significant sociobiological characteristics of ants, including reproductive hierarchies, colony foundation, social food flow, nestmate recognition, territoriality, and size- and age-related sensory perception and task performance as well as the involvement of monoamines in collective intelligence, the ultimate key to the global dominance of these remarkable superorganisms. We conclude by suggesting future directions for the analysis of the aminergic regulation of behavior and social complexity in ants.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogenic Amines and Collective Organization in a Superorganism: Neuromodulation of Social Behavior in Ants

Kamhi¹,

Traniello²

2013

Brain Behav Evol

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“…The ant Pheidole dentata has served as a model to explore the evolution and ecology of social structure, as well as the neurobiological underpinnings of agerelated worker behaviour [22][23][24][25][26][27]. Minor workers expand their task repertoires from eclosion to approximately three weeks of age [23] while their brains undergo synaptic remodelling [28] and serotonergic systems that influence behavioural development and task performance mature [25,[29][30][31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifespan behavioural and neural resilience in a social insect

et al. 2016

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Analyses of senescence in social species are important to understanding how group living influences the evolution of ageing in society members. Social insects exhibit remarkable lifespan polyphenisms and division of labour, presenting excellent opportunities to test hypotheses concerning ageing and behaviour. Senescence patterns in other taxa suggest that behavioural performance in ageing workers would decrease in association with declining brain functions. Using the ant Pheidole dentata as a model, we found that 120-day-old minor workers, having completed 86% of their laboratory lifespan, showed no decrease in sensorimotor functions underscoring complex tasks such as alloparenting and foraging. Collaterally, we found no age-associated increases in apoptosis in functionally specialized brain compartments or decreases in synaptic densities in the mushroom bodies, regions associated with integrative processing. Furthermore, brain titres of serotonin and dopamine-neuromodulators that could negatively impact behaviour through age-related declines-increased in old workers. Unimpaired task performance appears to be based on the maintenance of brain functions supporting olfaction and motor coordination independent of age. Our study is the first to comprehensively assess lifespan task performance and its neurobiological correlates and identify constancy in behavioural performance and the absence of significant age-related neural declines.

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“…The mobile phase consisted of 50 mmol l −1 citric acid buffered with 2.5 g sodium acetate at pH 3.6, 24% acetonitrile, 750 ml nanopure H 2 O, 100 µl of triethylamine and 0.43 g of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) (Hardie and Hirsh, 2006;Smith et al, 2013;Muscedere et al, 2013). Prior to quantification, individual brains were homogenized in the mobile phase and centrifuged for 10 min at 10,000 rpm and −9°C (Hardie and Hirsh, 2006;Smith et al, 2013;Muscedere et al, 2013).…”

Section: Brain Preparations and Hplc-ed Neurochemical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The second and third channels of the detector were set to 450 and 650 mV, respectively. A 20 µl sample of supernatant liquid from each brain sample was injected onto the HPLC column and amine levels were detected on both the 450 and 650 mV channels (Hardie and Hirsh, 2006;Smith et al, 2013;Muscedere et al, 2013); 500 nmol l −1 and 1, 5 and 10 µmol l −1 mixtures of OA, DA and 5-HT standards in mobile phase (aq) were run at both the beginning and end of each day in order to properly quantify amines via the production of standard curves.…”

Section: Brain Preparations and Hplc-ed Neurochemical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphine addiction in ants: a new model for self-administration and neurochemical analysis

Entler

Cannon

Seid

2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Conventional definitions of drug addiction are focused on characterizing the neurophysiological and behavioral responses of mammals. Although mammalian models have been invaluable in studying specific and complex aspects of addiction, invertebrate systems have proven advantageous in investigating how drugs of abuse corrupt the most basic motivational and neurochemical systems. It has recently been shown that invertebrates and mammals have remarkable similarities in their behavioral and neurochemical responses to drugs of abuse. However, until now only mammals have demonstrated drug seeking and selfadministration without the concurrent presence of a natural reward, e.g. sucrose. Using a sucrose-fading paradigm, followed by a twodish choice test, we establish ants as an invertebrate model of opioid addiction. The ant species Camponotus floridanus actively seeks and self-administers morphine even in the absence of caloric value or additional natural reward. Using HPLC equipped with electrochemical detection, the neurochemicals serotonin, octopamine and dopamine were identified and subsequently quantified, establishing the concurrent neurochemical response to the opioid morphine within the invertebrate brain. With this study, we demonstrate dopamine to be governing opioid addiction in the brains of ants. Thus, this study establishes ants as the first non-mammalian model of selfadministration that is truly analogous to mammals.

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Brood-care experience, nursing performance, and neural development in the ant Pheidole dentata

Cited by 24 publications

References 58 publications

Biogenic Amines and Collective Organization in a Superorganism: Neuromodulation of Social Behavior in Ants

Biogenic Amines and Collective Organization in a Superorganism: Neuromodulation of Social Behavior in Ants

Lifespan behavioural and neural resilience in a social insect

Morphine addiction in ants: a new model for self-administration and neurochemical analysis

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