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Acetylcholine and Its Receptors in Honeybees: Involvement in Development and Impairments by Neonicotinoids

Acetylcholine (ACh) is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the insect central nervous system (CNS). However, besides the neuronal expression of ACh receptors (AChR), the existence of non-neuronal AChR in honeybees is plausible. The cholinergic system is a popular target of insecticides because...

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Autores principales: Grünewald, Bernd, Siefert, Paul
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6955729/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31771114
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects10120420
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author Grünewald, Bernd
Siefert, Paul
author_facet Grünewald, Bernd
Siefert, Paul
author_sort Grünewald, Bernd
collection PubMed
description Acetylcholine (ACh) is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the insect central nervous system (CNS). However, besides the neuronal expression of ACh receptors (AChR), the existence of non-neuronal AChR in honeybees is plausible. The cholinergic system is a popular target of insecticides because the pharmacology of insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) differs substantially from their vertebrate counterparts. Neonicotinoids are agonists of the nAChR and are largely used in crop protection. In contrast to their relatively high safety for humans and livestock, neonicotinoids pose a threat to pollinating insects such as bees. In addition to its effects on behavior, it becomes increasingly evident that neonicotinoids affect developmental processes in bees that appear to be independent of neuronal AChRs. Brood food (royal jelly, worker jelly, or drone jelly) produced in the hypopharyngeal glands of nurse bees contains millimolar concentrations of ACh, which is required for proper larval development. Neonicotinoids reduce the secreted ACh-content in brood food, reduce hypopharyngeal gland size, and lead to developmental impairments within the colony. We assume that potential hazards of neonicotinoids on pollinating bees occur neuronally causing behavioral impairments on adult individuals, and non-neuronally causing developmental disturbances as well as destroying gland functioning.
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spelling pubmed-69557292020-01-23 Acetylcholine and Its Receptors in Honeybees: Involvement in Development and Impairments by Neonicotinoids Grünewald, Bernd Siefert, Paul Insects Review Acetylcholine (ACh) is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the insect central nervous system (CNS). However, besides the neuronal expression of ACh receptors (AChR), the existence of non-neuronal AChR in honeybees is plausible. The cholinergic system is a popular target of insecticides because the pharmacology of insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) differs substantially from their vertebrate counterparts. Neonicotinoids are agonists of the nAChR and are largely used in crop protection. In contrast to their relatively high safety for humans and livestock, neonicotinoids pose a threat to pollinating insects such as bees. In addition to its effects on behavior, it becomes increasingly evident that neonicotinoids affect developmental processes in bees that appear to be independent of neuronal AChRs. Brood food (royal jelly, worker jelly, or drone jelly) produced in the hypopharyngeal glands of nurse bees contains millimolar concentrations of ACh, which is required for proper larval development. Neonicotinoids reduce the secreted ACh-content in brood food, reduce hypopharyngeal gland size, and lead to developmental impairments within the colony. We assume that potential hazards of neonicotinoids on pollinating bees occur neuronally causing behavioral impairments on adult individuals, and non-neuronally causing developmental disturbances as well as destroying gland functioning. MDPI 2019-11-22 /pmc/articles/PMC6955729/ /pubmed/31771114 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects10120420 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Grünewald, Bernd
Siefert, Paul
Acetylcholine and Its Receptors in Honeybees: Involvement in Development and Impairments by Neonicotinoids
title Acetylcholine and Its Receptors in Honeybees: Involvement in Development and Impairments by Neonicotinoids
title_full Acetylcholine and Its Receptors in Honeybees: Involvement in Development and Impairments by Neonicotinoids
title_fullStr Acetylcholine and Its Receptors in Honeybees: Involvement in Development and Impairments by Neonicotinoids
title_full_unstemmed Acetylcholine and Its Receptors in Honeybees: Involvement in Development and Impairments by Neonicotinoids
title_short Acetylcholine and Its Receptors in Honeybees: Involvement in Development and Impairments by Neonicotinoids
title_sort acetylcholine and its receptors in honeybees: involvement in development and impairments by neonicotinoids
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6955729/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31771114
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects10120420
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