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Fighting fruit flies- low dopamine makes them agressive, high tems decrease dopamine

FOCUS - May 3, 2002

Losing lobsters remember their defeat for up to a week and grovel in the presence of the winner. The loser may not eat and will not engage winners or losers of other fights for days. In fly fights, however, the loser keeps coming back for more. This may be because flies face few dangerous weapons, such as claws or teeth, that could threaten their survival if they try again, Kravitz said.

Now that normal fighting behavior has been statistically quantified, the researchers are using a technique developed by Andrea Brand and Norbert Perrimon at HMS nine years ago to direct the expression of genes in fruit flies wherever and whenever an investigator desires. The Kravitz lab is using this method to block the release of the amine neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine by a small shift in temperature. At 75 degrees the flies are normal, but at 85 degrees they lose the function of the dopamine and serotonin neurons. Dopamine and serotonin have been implicated in aggression studies in lobsters, other animal models, and rare human genetic mutations. Fly videos, the complete repertoire of fighting fly manuevers, and interviews with the researchers are on the Web.

I read somewhere else that the heat of summer causes serotonin to dip, causing depression. Now I see this- very interesting. A google search doesn't turn up much, more stuff about how lowering BRAIN temperature causes neutrotransmitters to damage the brain less, like when you overdose on XTC or something. XTC heats up the brain, and overpowers it with dopamine I think, and this is a bad combination. I have to get that "lights out" and see what they say about this. The intersection of temperature and neurotransmitter function. Interesting.

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