By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterA team of Academia Sinica researchers yesterday said that they have found the neural mechanism that coordinates fruit flies’ states of thirst and hunger, which they said might help with studies on eating disorders and depression in humans. When the flies are dehydrated, leucokinin is released, driving them to search for learned water cues by inhibiting two groups of dopamine-releasing neurons (thirst-DANs), which restrict the flies’ water-seeking behaviors, he said. The neurotransmitter is also released in starving flies and activates another group of dopamine-releasing neurons linked to hunger cues, he said. The team observed fly brains under microscopes, using fluorescent proteins to highlight their neurons, Lin said, adding that existing genetic tools for fruit flies have enabled scientists to control each of the flies’ neurons. Their research showed that the flies’ thirst and hunger drives are coordinated by multiple neurotransmitters, instead of entirely separate ones, a phenomenon that might also occur in other creatures, he said.

Source: Taipei Times December 20, 2019 15:56 UTC