Selection of motor programs for suppressing food intake and inducing locomotion in the Drosophila brain.

ABSTRACT: Central mechanisms by which specific motor programs are selected to achieve meaningful behaviors are not well understood. Using electrophysiological recordings from pharyngeal nerves upon central activation of neurotransmitter-expressing cells, we show that distinct neuronal ensembles can regulate different feeding motor programs. In behavioral and electrophysiological experiments, activation of 20 neurons in the brain expressing the neuropeptide hugin, a homolog of mammalian neuromedin U, simultaneously suppressed the motor program for food intake while inducing the motor program for locomotion. Decreasing hugin neuropeptide levels in the neurons by RNAi prevented this action. Reducing the level of hugin neuronal activity alone did not have any effect on feeding or locomotion motor progra

SUBMITTER: Schoofs A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4068981 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature