ABSTRACT
Honeybees, Apis mellifera, gradually increase their rate of forage uptake as they gain foraging experience. This increase in foraging performance has been proposed to occur as a result of learning; however, factors affecting flight ability such as changes in physiological components of flight metabolism could also contribute to this pattern. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess the contribution of physiological changes to the increase in honeybee foraging performance. We investigated aspects of honeybee flight muscle biochemistry throughout the adult life, from non-foraging hive bees, through young and mature foragers, to old foragers near the end of their lifespan. Two-dimensional gel proteomic analysis on honeybee thorax muscle revealed an increase in several proteins from hive bees to mature foragers including troponin T 10a, aldolase and superoxide dismutase. By contrast, the activities (V(max)) of enzymes involved in aerobic performance, phosphofructokinase, hexokinase, pyruvate kinase and cytochrome c oxidase, did not increase in the flight muscles of hive bees, young foragers, mature foragers and old foragers. However, citrate synthase activity was found to increase with foraging experience. Hence, our results suggest plasticity in both structural and metabolic components of flight muscles with foraging experience.
Subject(s)
Appetitive Behavior/physiology , Bees/physiology , Feeding Behavior/physiology , Flight, Animal , Muscles/physiology , Age Factors , Analysis of Variance , Animals , Base Sequence , Bees/enzymology , Citrate (si)-Synthase/metabolism , Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional , Fructose-Bisphosphate Aldolase/genetics , Fructose-Bisphosphate Aldolase/metabolism , Mass Spectrometry , Molecular Sequence Data , Muscles/enzymology , Ontario , Sequence Analysis, DNA , Superoxide Dismutase/metabolism , Troponin T/genetics , Troponin T/metabolismABSTRACT
Summary and reliable physiologic or pharmacologic investigation in animal models often requires arterial catheterization in awake animal subjects. This can be facilitated by surgical exteriorization of the carotid artery for subsequent percutaneous catheterization. A simplified surgical procedure is described that has been demonstrated to have limited morbidity and excellent applicability for multiple use, as well as to ensure high blood flow rates when needed. The surgical technique involves transfer of the carotid artery from a deep paratracheal position to a ventrolateral neck subcutaneous position, protected from the underlying mattress sutures by the sternomastoid muscle.
