2014 participants
Helen Earnshaw
Nicotine is one of the world’s most addictive drugs. Several of the molecular targets of addictive drugs are shared in vertebrates and invertebrates, making it possible to study invertebrates to understand how drugs affect the brain’s reward pathways. Honeybees have a brain of less than 1 million neurons and are an important model for the study of learning and memory. For this reason, they have great potential for elucidating the mechanisms of drug addiction in neural circuits. This project will examine whether nicotine in food enhances appetitive and aversive learning in honeybees.
Funding Source: Newcastle University