The "survival hormones": azelaic and pimelic acids, suppress the stress elicited by isolation conditions on the steroids and phospholipids of adult worker honeybees.

The kinetics of abdomen, haemolymph and thoracic-muscle steroid and phospholipid concentrations have been determined in adult worker-bees kept for 0 to 12 hrs starving in darkness, either grouped by 8 (controls) or strictly isolated, or isolated in presence of a piece of cotton impregnated with 1 microgram azelaic acid and 1 microgram pimelic acid, the so-called "survivones" which restore the lifespan of isolated bees. The dynamics of both steroids and phospholipids strongly deviates in isolated bees relatively to controls. The introduction of survivones completely restored the variations of haemolymph steroids of haemolymph and thorax phospholipids of isolated bees to exactly similar features as in controls. The action of the lipoic hormones "survivones" thus involves the participation of lipid metabolism.