Aversive phototaxic suppression: evaluation of a short-term memory assay in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Drosophila melanogaster is increasingly being used to model human conditions that are associated with cognitive deficits including fragile-X syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, sleep loss, etc. With few exceptions, cognitive abilities that are known to be modified in these conditions in humans have not been evaluated in fly models. One reason is the absence of a simple, inexpensive and reliable behavioral assay that can be used by laboratories that are not expert in learning and memory. Aversive phototaxic suppression (APS) is a simple assay in which flies learn to avoid light that is paired with an aversive stimulus (quinine/humidity). However, questions remain about whether the change in the fly's behavior reflects learning an association between light and quinine/humidit

SUBMITTER: Seugnet L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4014202 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature