Biphasic responses of the honeybee heart to nanomolar concentrations of amitraz

Amitraz is a pesticide targeting the octopaminergic receptors. In a previous study, octopamine, a biogenic amine, was found to induce a biphasic effect on the honeybee heart, inhibition at low concentrations and excitation at high concentrations. Furthermore, the honeybee heart was found to be far more sensitive to octopamine compared to other insect hearts. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of amitraz on the electrical and mechanical properties of the honeybee heart ex vivo and on the heart rate in vivo. In ex vivo conditions, amitraz at 10(-12) M caused a significant inhibition in the mechanical (p<0.05, n=4) and electrical properties (p<0.05, n=4). Higher concentrations such as 10(-9) and 10(-6) M induced a biphasic effect, with total inhibition for 7.86±1.26 min (n=7), followed by strong excitation of spontaneously-generated contractions (n=7). The initial elimination of heart activity was caused by strong hyperpolarization, while the subsequent excitation was caused by a depolarization in the membrane potential of pacemaker cells at 10(-9) M (n=8). In the in vivo experiments, abdominal injection or oral application of 0.20 ng of amitraz per bee induced a persistent increase of 134.28±4.07% (p<0.05, n=4) in the frequency of the cardiac action potentials. The above responses clearly show that the heart of the honeybee is extremely vulnerable to amitraz, which is nevertheless still used inside beehives, ostensibly to "protect" the honeybees against their main parasite, Varroa destructor.