Université de Fribourg

Four individually identified paired dopamine neurons signal reward in larval Drosophila

Rohwedder, Astrid ; Wenz, Nana L. ; Stehle, Bernhard ; Huser, Annina ; Yamagata, Nobuhiro ; Zlatic, Marta ; Truman, James W. ; Tanimoto, Hiromu ; Saumweber, Timo ; Gerber, Bertram ; Thum, Andreas S.

In: Current Biology, 2016, vol. 26, no. 5, p. 661–669

Dopaminergic neurons serve multiple functions, including reinforcement processing during associative learning [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12]. It is thus warranted to understand which dopaminergic neurons mediate which function. We study larval Drosophila, in which only approximately 120 of a total of 10,000 neurons are dopaminergic, as judged by the expression of tyrosine...

Université de Fribourg

Neuropeptide F neurons modulate sugar reward during associative olfactory learning of Drosophila larvae

Rohwedder, Astrid ; Selcho, Mareike ; Chassot, Bérénice ; Thum, Andreas S.

In: Journal of Comparative Neurology, 2015, vol. 523, no. 18, p. 2637–2664

All organisms continuously have to adapt their behavior according to changes in the environment in order to survive. Experience-driven changes in behavior are usually mediated and maintained by modifications in signaling within defined brain circuits. Given the simplicity of the larval brain of Drosophila and its experimental accessibility on the genetic and behavioral level, we analyzed if...

Université de Fribourg

Electric shock-induced associative olfactory learning in Drosophila larvae

Pauls, Dennis ; Pfitzenmaier, Johanna E.R. ; Krebs-Wheaton, Rebecca ; Selcho, Mareike ; Stocker, Reinhard F. ; Thum, Andreas S.

In: Chemical Senses, 2010, vol. 35, no. 4, p. 335-346

Associative plasticity is a basic essential attribute of nervous systems. As shown by numerous reports, Drosophila is able to establish simple forms of appetitive and aversive olfactory associations at both larval and adult stages. Whereas most adult studies on aversive learning employed electric shock as a negative reinforcer, larval paradigms essentially utilized gustatory stimuli to...