A method is described for counterstaining tissue for use with the glyoxylic acid reaction for visual detection of biogenic amines. Counterstaining is achieved by addition of the fluorescent dye malachite green to the sucrose-phosphate-glyoxylic acid (SPG) solution used for processing of cryostat sections of unfixed tissues. When bound to tissues, the dye provides red-orange fluorescence of back...

Neuromodulators are conserved across insect taxa, but how biogenic amines and their receptors in ancestral solitary forms have been co-opted to control behaviors in derived socially complex species is largely unknown. Here we explore patterns associated with the functions of octopamine (OA), serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) in solitary ancestral insects and their derived functions in eusocial...

Increasingly invertebrates are being used to investigate the molecular and cellular effects of drugs of abuse to explore basic mechanisms of addiction. However, in mammals the principle factors contributing to addiction are long-term adaptive responses to repeated drug use. Here we examined whether adaptive responses to cocaine are also seen in invertebrates using the honey bee model system. Re...

Four biogenic amines: octopamine, tyramine, dopamine and serotonin act in C. elegans to modulate behavior in response to changing environmental cues. These neurotransmitters act at both neurons and muscles to affect egg laying, pharyngeal pumping, locomotion and learning. A variety of experimental approaches including genetic, imaging, biochemical and pharmacological analyses have been used to ...

The effects of intraperitoneal injections of various doses of A9-tettahydrocannabinol (A”-THC) on brain levels of cyclic adenosine 3’,5’-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) have been studied in mice. Doses of A9-THC in the range of 0.1 to 1.0 mgikg cause a 5&160 per cent elevation of cyclic AMP levels compared to controls (P < O.OOOS), while doses of A9THC in the range of 2.0 to 10.0 mg/kg cause a 3@-60...