TINY BRAIN RESEARCH: The team studied the brains of fruit flies to discover how the urges to find food and water work, which might apply to depression research
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 21, 2019
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter
A team of Academia Sinica researchers yesterday said that they have found the neural mechanism
From left, assistant research fellow Lin Sue-wei at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Molecular Biology; graduate student Bhagyashree Senapati, who is part of Academia Sinica’s Taiwan International Graduate Program; and postdoctoral researcher Tsao Chang-hui, from Lin’s lab, pose for a photograph at a news conference yesterday in Taipei.
Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times
The flies’ responses to learned odor cues of food and water are associated with a neurotransmitter called leucokinin, Institute of Molecular Biology assistant research fellow Lin Sue-wei (林書葦) told a news conference in Taipei.
When the flies are dehydrated, leucokinin is released, driving them to search for learned water cues by inhibiting two groups of dopamine-releasing neurons (thirst-DANs), which restrict the flies’ water-seeking behaviors, he said.
The neurotransmitter is also released in starving flies and activates another group of dopamine-releasing neurons linked to hunger cues, he said. [FULL STORY]