The caloric value of food intake structurally adjusts a neuronal mushroom body circuit mediating olfactory learning in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Associative learning enables the adaptive adjustment of behavioral decisions based on acquired, predicted outcomes. The valence of what is learned is influenced not only by the learned stimuli and their temporal relations, but also by prior experiences and internal states. In this study, we used the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to demonstrate that neuronal circuits involved in associative olfactory learning undergo restructuring during extended periods of low-caloric food intake. Specifically, we observed a decrease in the connections between specific dopaminergic neurons (DANs) and Kenyon cells at distinct compartments of the mushroom body. This structural synaptic plasticity was contingent upon the presence of allatostatin A receptors in specific DANs and could be mimicked op

SUBMITTER: Coban B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11199950 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature