Exploratory activity, habituation and object recognition memory in Drosophila

MARIO RAFAEL PAGANI; PAULO AUGUSTO ALVAREZ

Mar del Plata

Congreso; XXXII Congress of the Argentine Society for Research in Neuroscience; 2017

Argentine Society for Research in Neuroscience

Spontaneous recognition of novel objects is commonly used to examine exploratory behavior and recognition memory in vertebrates. In this assay, animals are exposed to two identical objects (where objects became familiar for the animal). Next, animals are tested with one of those familiar objects and a novel object. The natural tendency to explore novelty makes evident the memory of the familiar object. This behavioral paradigm does not require the use of unpleasant stimuli (e.g. electric shock) and make use of the natural tendency of animals to explore; seeking for food and other needs essential for survival. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms of these behaviors are largely unknown. Motivation is the driving force that prompts individuals to perform specific behaviors. Motivational states are essential determinants for innate and learned behaviors. In this study we characterized in fruit flies the behavioral performance for exploratory activity, the subsequent habituation in distinct contexts and motivational states and finally novel object recognition memory. Our investigation showed that fruit flies have some behavioral properties similar to vertebrate, including the initial exploratory activity and subsequent decay of such activity, habituation memory and object recognition memory. We expect that this behavioral assay in fruit flies contribute to determine genetic and neuronal components involved in motivation and its effects on learning and memory.