Bacterial LPS induces sickness behavior in honey bees

KASLAUSKA NADIA; KLAPPEBACH MARTIN; DEPINO AMAICHA; FERNANDO LOCATELLI

Mar del PLata

Congreso; XXX Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias SAN 2015; 2015

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias

Bacterial LPSinduces sickness behavior in honey bees During an infection, animals suffer severalchanges in their normal physiology and behavior which can include lethargy, appetiteloss and reduction in grooming and general movement. These sets of alterationsare known as sickness behavior and although they have been extensively believedto be orchestrated primarily by the immune system, a relevant role for the centralnervous system has also been established recently.The aim of our work is to develop a simpleanimal model to study how both of these systems interact during an infection.We administered a bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into the thorax of honeybees to mimic a bacterial infection, and then we evaluated a set of stereotypedbehaviors of the animals.First, we showed that this immune challengereduces the locomotor activity of the animals in a narrow time window after LPSinjection. Furthermore, bees exhibit a loss of appetite 60 and 90 minutes afterinjection, but not 24 hours later. We also demonstrated that LPS injectionreduces spontaneous antennal movements in harnessed animals, which suggests areduction in the motivational state of the bees. Finally, we showed that theLPS injection diminish the interaction between animals, a crucial behavior in socialinsects.These findings prove the honey bee as a useful insect model for thestudy of the sickness behavior.