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• Zhu, H
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Biology 2012, 1(3), 508-520; doi:10.3390/biology1030508

Article

Improved Cholinergic Transmission is Detrimental to Behavioural Plasticity in Honeybees (Apis mellifera)

David Guez ^1,* , Hong Zhu ²  and Shao-Wu Zhang ²

¹ School of Psychology, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia ² Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 1 September 2012; in revised form: 21 September 2012 / Accepted: 27 September 2012 / Published: 16 October 2012

Download PDF Full-Text [235 KB, uploaded 19 October 2012 15:58 CEST]

Abstract: Unravelling the role of neuromessenger processes in learning and memory has long interested researchers. We investigated the effects of an acetylcholinesterase blocker, Methyl Parathion (MeP), on honeybee learning. We used visual and olfactory tasks to test whether MeP had a detrimental effect on the acquisition of new knowledge when this new knowledge contradicts previously acquired one. Our results indicate that treatment with MeP prior to conditioning was significantly detrimental to the acquisition of incongruous (but not irrelevant or congruous) new knowledge due to improved recall. The neurobiological and ecotoxicological consequences of these results are discussed.

Keywords: pesticide; organo-phosphate; nicotinic; muscarinic; recall; learning reversal; Apis mellifera ligustica

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