L-Glutamate in formation of long-term memory in the honeybee Apis mellifera

Effect of encoded amino acids on associative learning of honeybee Apis mellifera

“…We used in this work all amino acids at a concentration of 10 -6 M that had turned out to be the most effective in our earlier pharmacological studies at the study of the capability for learning of honeybees [7] and at cultivation of mammalian tissues [4,5] (its effectiveness was revealed as a result of titration from 10 -3 M to 10 -12 M). It cannot be ruled out that some amino acids that have no stimulating effect can produce it at a change of concentration.…”

“…Earlier it was shown that glutamic and aspartic acids activated the corresponding receptors and multiple signal cascades by modulating thereby the expression of the specific genes necessary for realization of the associative function, including the memory processes. Participation of the heterogeneous population of glutamate receptors in leaning and memory formation in insects [9], specifically in honeybees, has been shown in works of Lopatina et al [6,7]. Other amino acids also possibly interact with different receptor structures and activate other signal ways.…”

“…There were identified phases of sensitization (lasting for seconds), the short-term (minute), and the long-term (hours, weeks, months) memory [6]. It has been shown that biogenic amines have a pronounced effect on the process of information storage in memory, whereas formation of the long-term memory is connected with use of a large spectrum of second messengers, cyclic nucleotides, and many signal molecule including protein-kinases, nitric oxide, as well as excitatory amino acids-glutamic and aspartic acids [7,8].…”

“…The experiments were carried out on honeybees Apis mellifera L. The experiment protocol is described in detail in the work [7]. The honeybees at age of 15-30 days were deprived of food and isolated from the family before the start of experiment to achieve the standard level of the uncondi-…”

Again about central metabotropic glutamate receptors of the group I in the honeybee Apis mellifera

“…The first publications about the presence of mGluR in the invertebrate head ganglion and their role in learning appeared at the mid-1990s [2]. Our studies allowed us to conclude [3] about the presence in the honeybee head ganglion of I, II и III groups of mGluR responsible for the long-term preservation of the individually acquired experience, with the receptors similar by the pharmacological profile to those in mammals. Our data differed from those obtained in studies of the foreign authors showing the presence in the honeybee head ganglion only of mGluR of the II group [4,5].…”