Peer Review #2 of "Immune stimulation reduces sleep and memory ability in Drosophila melanogaster (v0.1)"

Psychoneuroimmunology studies the increasing number of connections between neurobiology, immunology and behaviour. We establish Drosophila melanogaster as a tractable model in this field by demonstrating the effects of the immune response on two fundamental behaviours: sleep and memory ability. We used the Geneswitch system to upregulate peptidoglycan receptor protein (PGRP) expression, thereby stimulating the immune system in the absence of infection. Geneswitch was activated by feeding the steroid RU486, to the flies. We used an aversive classical conditioning paradigm to quantify memory and measures of activity to infer sleep. Immune stimulated flies exhibited reduced levels of sleep, which could not be explained by a generalised increase in waking activity. The effects on sleep were more pronounced for day compared to night sleep. Immune stimulated flies also showed a reduction in memory abilities. These results establish Drosophila as a model for immune-neural interactions and suggest a possible role for sleep in the interplay between the immune response and memory.

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Immune stimulation reduces sleep and memory ability in Drosophila melanogaster

10.1101/002717 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Eamonn Mallon ◽

Akram Alghamdi ◽

Robert Holdbrook ◽

Ezio Rosato

Keyword(s):

Immune Response ◽

Drosophila Melanogaster ◽

Immune System ◽

Receptor Protein ◽

Immune Stimulation ◽

Night Sleep ◽

Conditioning Paradigm ◽

Memory Ability ◽

Neural Interactions ◽

Aversive Classical Conditioning

Psychoneuroimmunology studies the increasing number of connections between neurobiology, immunology and behaviour. We establish Drosophila melanogaster as a tractable model in this field by demonstrating the effects of the immune response on two fundamental behaviours: sleep and memory ability. We used the Geneswitch system to upregulate peptidoglycan receptor protein (PGRP) expression, thereby stimulating the immune system in the absence of infection. Geneswitch was activated by feeding the steroid RU486, to the flies. We used an aversive classical conditioning paradigm to quantify memory and measures of activity to infer sleep. Immune stimulated flies exhibited reduced levels of sleep, which could not be explained by a generalised increase in waking activity. The effects on sleep were more pronounced for day compared to night sleep. Immune stimulated flies also showed a reduction in memory abilities. These are important results as they establish Drosophila as a model for immune-neural interactions and provide a possible role for sleep in the interplay between the immune response and memory.

Download Full-text

Immune stimulation reduces sleep and memory ability in Drosophila melanogaster

10.7287/peerj.preprints.285 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Eamonn B Mallon ◽

Akram Alghamdi ◽

Robert T.K. Holdbrook ◽

Ezio Rosato

Keyword(s):

Immune Response ◽

Drosophila Melanogaster ◽

Immune System ◽

Receptor Protein ◽

Immune Stimulation ◽

Night Sleep ◽

Conditioning Paradigm ◽

Memory Ability ◽

Neural Interactions ◽

Aversive Classical Conditioning

Psychoneuroimmunology studies the increasing number of connections between neurobiology, immunology and behaviour. We establish Drosophila melanogaster as a tractable model in this field by demonstrating the effects of the immune response on two fundamental behaviours: sleep and memory ability. We used the Geneswitch system to upregulate peptidoglycan receptor protein (PGRP) expression, thereby stimulating the immune system in the absence of infection. Geneswitch was activated by feeding the steroid RU486, to the flies. We used an aversive classical conditioning paradigm to quantify memory and measures of activity to infer sleep. Immune stimulated flies exhibited reduced levels of sleep, which could not be explained by a generalised increase in waking activity. The effects on sleep were more pronounced for day compared to night sleep. Immune stimulated flies also showed a reduction in memory abilities. These results establish Drosophila as a model for immune-neural interactions and suggest a possible role for sleep in the interplay between the immune response and memory.

Download Full-text