V-035 | The serotonin mediates the locomotor response to high temperatures in Drosophila melanogaster.

Cognition, Behavior, and Memory
Author: Andrea Beltrán Terán | Email: andreabeltran@campus.fmed.uba.ar

Andrea Beltrán Terán^1°2°, María Sol Calahorrano^1°2°,Andreia Neumann^1°2°, Azul Galo^2°3°, Maria Victoria Noceti^1°2°, Vinicius Bongiovanni^1°2°, Pablo Bochicchio^3°4°, Diego Hernán Bodin^4°, Maximiliano Katz^1°2°3°

^1° Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Departamento de Ciencias Fisiológicas. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
^2° CONICET – Universidad de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay (IFIBIO Houssay). Buenos Aires, Argentina.
^3° Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET).
^4° Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Laboratorio de Neuroetología de Insectos. Buenos Aires, Argentina

In nature, organisms are continually exposed to various stress conditions. High-temperature
exposure (HTE) induces physiological and biochemical adjustments that are essential for
adaptation to such stressor. Alterations in locomotor activity play a crucial role in this adaptive
response across both vertebrates and invertebrates. Serotonin (5HT), a neurotransmitter that
regulates multiple aspects of organismal homeostasis, has an unclear role in stress response
adaptation. In this study, we used the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model organism to
explore the involvement of the serotonergic pathway in the regulation of locomotion under
temperature alterations. In Drosophila, HTE leads to a significant increase in locomotor activity.
Similarly, gradual temperature increments (GTI) also lead to enhanced locomotion. We exposed
control flies and mutants deficient for the enzyme Tryptophan hydroxylase, the serotonin
transporter SerT, and the five serotonin receptors described in Drosophila (5HT1A, 5HT1B, 5HT2A,
5HT2B, and 5HT7) to both HTE and GTI protocols, and analyzed their locomotor patterns. Our
results indicate that serotonin is essential for a normal locomotor response to high temperature,
with the 5HT7 receptor playing a key mediating role in this process.