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The use of invertebrate models has allowed researchers to examine the mechanisms behind alcoholism and its effects with a cost-effective system. In that respect, the honey bee is an ideal model species to study the effects of ethanol (EtOH) due to the behavioral and physiological similarities of honey bees with humans when alcohol is consumed. Although both ingestion and inhalation methods are used to dose subjects in insect EtOH model systems, there is little literature on the use of the EtOH vapor-exposure method for experiments using honey bees. The experiment presented here provides baseline data for a dose EtOH-hemolymph response curve when using EtOH vapor-inhalation dosing with honey bees (Apis mellifera). Bees were exposed to EtOH vapors for 0, 1, 2.5, or 5 min, and hemolymph was collected 1 min post EtOH exposure. Hemolymph samples were analyzed using gas chromatography (GC) for hemolymph EtOH concentration. The ethanol-hemolymph level of the bees increased linearly with exposure time. The results provide a dosing guide for hemolymph EtOH level in the honey bee model ethanol-inhalation system, and thus makes the honey bee model more robust.
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This content will become publicly available on August 1, 2026
Feeding state-specific hormonal tuning of neural circuit modulation
We establish that a complete, natural hormonal environment (hemolymph) increases the likelihood of a neuropeptide activating the gastric mill (chewing) rhythm in the crab stomatogastric ganglion (STG). The similar action of a higher neuropeptide concentration in saline, its comparable desensitizing effect to that of neuropeptide plus hemolymph on subsequent neuropeptide applications, and the absence of that neuropeptide in hemolymph suggest one or more distinct hormones act to enhance the effectiveness of the applied peptide.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2108223
- PAR ID:
- 10656493
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Physiological Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Neurophysiology
- Volume:
- 134
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0022-3077
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 642 to 666
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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