Main Menu
Welcome
meeting posters and abstracts [ posters presented at meetings and their abstracts ]
| ADHD in a Drosophila memory mutant | |||
| Author | Björn Brembs and Bruno van Swinderen | ||
| Author email | bjoern©brembs.net | ||
| Author website | http://brembs.net | ||
| Description | The primary function of brains in all animals is to produce adaptive behavioral choices by selecting the right action at the right time. In humans, attention determines action selection as well as memory formation, while memories also guide which external stimuli should be attended to. The complex co-dependence of attention, memory, and action selection makes approaching the neurobiological basis of these interactions difficult in higher animals. Therefore, a successful reductionist approach is to turn to simpler systems for unraveling such complex biological problems. In a constantly changing environment, even simple animals have evolved attention-like processes to effectively filter incoming sensory stimuli. These processes can be studied in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, by a variety of behavioral and electrophysiological techniques. Recent work has shown that mutations affecting olfactory memory formation in Drosophila also produce distinct defects in visual attention-like behavior. In this study we extend those results to describe visual attention-like defects in the Drosophila memory consolidation mutant radish1. In both behavioral and brain-recording assays, radish mutant flies consistently displayed responses characteristic of a reduced attention span, with more frequent perceptual alternations and more random behavior compared to wild type flies. Some attention-like defects were successfully rescued by administering a drug commonly used to treat Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in humans, methylphenidate (Ritalin). Our results suggest that a balance between persistence and flexibility is crucial for adaptive action selection in flies, and that this balance requires radish gene function during Drosophila brain development. | ||
| Image | no image available | ||
| Filesize | 11.67 MB | ||
| Downloads | 3321 | ||
| Download |  | ||
| Rating |
| ||
You must be logged in to make comments on this site - please log in, or if you are not registered click here to signup