Premium
Octopamine receptors in the honey bee and locust nervous system: pharmacological similarities between homologous receptors of distantly related species
Author(s) -
Degen Joern,
Gewecke Michael,
Roeder Thomas
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
british journal of pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.432
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1476-5381
pISSN - 0007-1188
DOI - 10.1038/sj.bjp.0703338
Subject(s) - octopamine (neurotransmitter) , locust , mushroom bodies , biology , receptor , insect , nervous system , honey bee , neuroscience , zoology , ecology , genetics , drosophila melanogaster , serotonin , gene
Honey bees are perhaps the most versatile models to study the cellular and pharmacological basis underlying behaviours ranging from learning and memory to sociobiology. For both aspects octopamine (OA) is known to play a vital role. The neuronal octopamine receptor of the honey bee shares pharmacological similarities with the neuronal octopamine receptor of the locust. Both, agonists and antagonists known to have high affinities for the locust neuronal octopamine receptor have also high affinities for the bee neuronal octopamine receptor. The distribution of receptors is more or less congruent between locusts and bees. Optic lobes and especially the mushroom bodies are areas of greatest octopamine receptor expression in both species, which mirrors the physiological significance of octopamine in the insect nervous system. The neuronal octopamine receptor of insects served as a model to study the pharmacological similarity of homologous receptors from distantly related species, because bees and locusts are separated by at least 330 million years of evolution.British Journal of Pharmacology (2000) 130 , 587–594; doi: 10.1038/sj.bjp.0703338