title: Effects of serotonergic and opioidergic drugs on escape behaviors and social status of male crickets.
abstract: We examined the effects of selective serotonin depletion and opioid ligands on social rank and related escape behavior of the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus. Establishment of social rank in a pair of males affected their escape reactions. Losers showed a lower and dominants a higher percentage of jumps in response to tactile cercal stimulation than before a fight. The serotonin-depleting drug alpha-methyltryptophan (AMTP) caused an activation of the escape reactivity in socially naive crickets. AMTP-treated animals also showed a lower ability to become dominants. With an initial 51.6+/- 3.6% of wins in the AMTP group, the percentage decreased to 26+/-1.6% on day 5 after injection. The opiate receptor antagonist naloxone affected fight and escape similarly as AMTP. In contrast to naloxone, the opioid agonist [d-Ala(2), N-Me-Phe(4), Gly(5)-ol]-enkephalin decreased escape responsiveness to cercal stimulation in naive and subordinate crickets. We suggest that serotonergic and opioid systems are involved in the dominance induced depression of escape behavior.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Zoologie und Anthropologie, Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. compar@glas.apc.org
authors.forename: V E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Dyakonova
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schürmann
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Sakharov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D006135:Gryllidae / Q000502:physiology*; D006608:Hierarchy, Social; D008297:Male; D009270:Naloxone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D011957:Receptors, Opioid / Q000819:agonists / Q000502:physiology; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*; D014364:Tryptophan / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D011957:Receptors, Opioid; C020774:alpha-methyltryptophan; D012701:Serotonin; D009270:Naloxone; D014364:Tryptophan