Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e43377. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0043377. Epub 2012 Aug 15.
We examined changes in the content of biogenic amines in the brains of ant queen associated with early colony establishment. In ants, including Formica japonica, winged virgin queens lose their wings following copulation, and then start establishing a colony. Significant changes in brain biogenic amine content in the queen are associated with transition from winged virgin queen to wingless mated queen. The levels of serotonin (5HT), octopamine (OA) and dopamine (DA) decreased significantly in the brain of the queen after starting a colony. On the other hand, tyramine (TA) increased significantly in the brain following colony establishment. Catabolized substances of the biogenic amines in the brain were also measured. The levels of N-acetyloctopamine (Nac-OA) and N-acetyltyramine (Nac-TA) in the brain did not show a significant change after the queen established a colony. However, the levels of N-acetylserotonin (Nac-5HT) in the brain were significantly higher in wingless mated queens than in winged virgin queens, whereas levels of N-acetyldopamine (Nac-DA) in the brain were significantly lower in wingless mated queens than winged virgin queens. These results suggest that serotonergic and octopaminergic systems in the brain of the queen change when the mated queen starts to establish a new colony.
我们研究了与早期蚁群建立相关的蚁后脑中生物胺含量的变化。在蚂蚁中，包括日本弓背蚁在内，有翼处女蚁后在交配后失去翅膀，然后开始建立蚁群。蚁后大脑中生物胺含量的显著变化与从有翼处女蚁后到无翼交配蚁后的转变有关。在开始建立蚁群后，蚁后大脑中的血清素（5HT）、章鱼胺（OA）和多巴胺（DA）水平显著下降。另一方面，在建立蚁群后，脑中的酪胺（TA）显著增加。大脑中生物胺的代谢产物也进行了测量。在蚁后建立蚁群后，脑中 N-乙酰章鱼胺（Nac-OA）和 N-乙酰酪胺（Nac-TA）的水平没有明显变化。然而，脑中 N-乙酰血清素（Nac-5HT）的水平在无翼交配蚁后中明显高于有翼处女蚁后，而脑中 N-乙酰多巴胺（Nac-DA）的水平在无翼交配蚁后中明显低于有翼处女蚁后。这些结果表明，当交配后的蚁后开始建立新的蚁群时，蚁后大脑中的 5-羟色胺能和章鱼胺能系统会发生变化。
