Name: a simple way to measure alterations in reward-seeking behavior using drosophila melanogaster
Uploaded: 2016-12-15T13:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about A Simple Way to Measure Alterations in Reward-seeking Behavior Using Drosophila melanogaster at JoVE.com

We thank U. Heberlein and A. Devineni for long-lasting discussions and technical advice. We also thank the Shohat-Ophir lab members, A. Benzur, L. Kazaz, and O. Shalom, for the help with demonstrating the method. Special appreciation goes to Eliezer Costi for establishing the fly systems in the lab. This work was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (384/14) and the Marie Curie Career Integration Grants (CIG 631127).

Note: General overview of the experimental design: The experimental design includes an adapted protocol for courtship suppression7-9 in which male flies are exposed to rewarding and nonrewarding experiences in 3 consecutive training sessions over the course of 4 d. At the end of the experience phase, the flies are tested in a two-choice voluntary ethanol consumption assay for 3&#160;- 4 d. The protocol herein includes several preparatory steps, some of which can be done in advance to be used in more than one experiment, while othe...

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Here, we illustrate the details of an integrated approach to measure alterations in reward-seeking behavior, based on previous work described by Devineni et al.6 and Shohat-Ophir et al5. The first section of the protocol uses different types of sexual interactions as the experience input, and the second section uses a two-choice feeding assay to assess the effect of experience on the preference to consume ethanol.
As shown by Devineni et al.<sup...

Modification of behavior in response to experience allows animals to adjust their behavior to changes in their environment1. During this process, animals integrate their internal physiological state with the changing conditions of the external environment and subsequently choose one action over another to increase their chances of survival and reproduction. Reward systems evolved to motivate behaviors that are required for the survival of individuals and species by reinforcing behaviors that enhance immediate survival, such as eating or drinking, or those that ensure long-term survival, such as sexual behavior or caring for offspring2. Artificial compounds such as drugs of abuse also affect reward systems by co-opting neural pathways that mediate natural rewards2.
During the last two decades, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has been established as a promising model for studying the molecular and neuronal mechanisms that are shaping the effects of ethanol on behavior3,4.
Previously, we have identified a subset of peptidergic neurons in flies (NPF/NPF receptor (R) neurons) that couple natural rewards, such as sexual experience, to the motivation of obtaining drug rewards5. NPF expression is sensitive to both sexual experiences and to drug rewards, such as ethanol intoxication. Changes in NPF expression levels are converted to alterations in ethanol self-administration5, where high NPF reduces and low NPF increases the preference to consume ethanol. Activating NPF neurons is rewarding for flies, as they display strong preference for an odor paired with the activation, which is also reflected by reduced ethanol consumption. More importantly, activation of NPF neurons interferes with the ability of flies to form a positive association between ethanol intoxication and an odor cue. The causal link between the NPF/R system, reward memory, and ethanol consumption suggests that one can use ethanol self-administration as a measure for changes in reward states5.
In this publication we demonstrate an integrated approach for tapping into the fly natural reward system and assaying changes in reward states. The approach consists of two separate parts, a training protocol for manipulating natural reward-related experiences, followed by a two-choice capillary feeder assay (CAFE) to assess ethanol self-administration as an estimate for changes in reward states. The CAFE assay is analogous to the two-bottle choice assays used in rodent studies for drug self-administration and has been shown to reflect certain properties of addiction-like behavior in flies6.

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a simple way to measure alterations in reward-seeking behavior using drosophila melanogaster

We describe a protocol for measuring ethanol self-administration in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) as a proxy for changes in reward states. We demonstrate a simple way to tap into the fly reward system, modify experiences related to natural reward, and use voluntary ethanol consumption as a measure for changes in reward states. The approach serves as a relevant tool to study the neurons and genes that play a role in experience-mediated changes of internal state. The protocol is composed of two discrete parts: exposing the flies to rewarding and nonrewarding experiences, and assaying voluntary ethanol consumption as a measure of the motivation to obtain a drug reward. The two parts can be used independently to induce the modulation of experience as an initial step for further downstream assays or as an independent two-choice feeding assay, respectively. The protocol does not require a complicated setup and can therefore be applied in any laboratory with basic fly culture tools.

FPreviously, Devineni et al. showed that when fruit flies are given the choice to consume ethanol-containing food, they display a strong preference for ethanol-containing food over nonethanol containing food6. Shown here are some representative results we obtained when assaying the innate ethanol preference of na&#239;ve male flies that did not undergo the training protocol.
Na&#239;ve Canton S male flies wer...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about A Simple Way to Measure Alterations in Reward-seeking Behavior Using Drosophila melanogaster at JoVE.com

A Simple Way to Measure Alterations in Reward-seeking Behavior Using Drosophila melanogaster

We describe a protocol for inducing rewarding and nonrewarding experiences in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) using voluntary ethanol consumption as a measure for changes in reward states.

A Simple Way to Measure Alterations in Reward-seeking Behavior Using Drosophila melanogaster

We describe a protocol for measuring ethanol self-administration in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) as a proxy for changes in reward states. We ...

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