Abstract
Honeybees are extensively used to study olfactory learning and memory processes thanks to their ability to discriminate and remember odors and because of their advantages for optophysiological recordings of the circuits involved in memory and odor perception. There are evidences that the encoding of odors in areas of primary sensory processing is not rigid, but undergoes changes caused by olfactory experience. The biological meaning of these changes is focus of intense discussions. Along this review, we present evidences of plasticity related to different forms of learning and discuss its function in the context of olfactory challenges that honeybees have to solve. So far, results in honeybees are consistent with a model in which changes in early olfactory processing contributes to the ability of an animal to recognize the presence of relevant odors and facilitates the discrimination of odors in a way adjusted to its own experience.
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Abbreviations
- AL:
-
Antennal lobe
- ORNs:
-
Olfactory receptor neurons
- LNs:
-
Local neurons
- PNs:
-
Projection neurons
- MBs:
-
Mushroom bodies
- LH:
-
Lateral horn
- lALT:
-
Lateral antennal lobe tract
- mALT:
-
Medial antennal lobe tract
- mlALT:
-
Mediolateral antennal lobe tract
- OA:
-
Octopamine
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Authors thank two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments and suggestions.
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The authors have been supported by grants from ANPCyT: Agencia Nacional de Promoción Cientifica y Tecnica, Argentina: PICT 2016-1755 to EM. ANPCyT PICT 2017-1285, CONICET and University of Buenos Aires to MK. ANPCyT PICT 2017-2284, CONICET and University of Buenos Aires to FL.
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Marachlian, E., Klappenbach, M. & Locatelli, F. Learning-dependent plasticity in the antennal lobe improves discrimination and recognition of odors in the honeybee. Cell Tissue Res 383, 165–175 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-020-03396-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-020-03396-2