Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 18, 2026
Simultaneous Long-term Recordings at Two Neuronal Processing Stages in Behaving Honeybees
Published on: July 21, 2014
Role of histamine as a putative inhibitory transmitter in the honeybee antennal lobe
Silke Sachse1, Philipp Peele, Ana F Silbering
1Institut für Biologie-Neurobiologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Königin-Luise Str, 28-30, D-14195 Berlin, Germany. ssachse@ice.mpg.de
Background:
Odors are represented by specific spatio-temporal activity patterns in the olfactory bulb of vertebrates and its insect analogue, the antennal lobe. In honeybees inhibitory circuits in the AL are involved in the processing of odors to shape afferent odor responses. GABA is known as an inhibitory transmitter in the antennal lobe, but not all interneurons are GABAergic. Therefore we sought to analyze the functional role of the inhibitory transmitter histamine for the processing of odors in the honeybee AL.
Results:
We optically recorded the representation of odors before, during and after histamine application at the input level (estimated from a compound signal), and at the output level (by selectively measuring the projection neurons). For both, histamine led to a strong and reversible reduction of odor-evoked responses.
Conclusion:
We propose that histamine, in addition to GABA, acts as an inhibitory transmitter in the honeybee AL and is therefore likely to play a role in odor processing.
More Related Videos
08:13SwarmSight: Real-time Tracking of Insect Antenna Movements and Proboscis Extension Reflex Using a Common Preparation and Conventional Hardware
Published on: December 25, 2017
11:08Neuropharmacological Manipulation of Restrained and Free-flying Honey Bees, Apis mellifera
Published on: November 26, 2016