Neuron: why does hunger make people perform better?

September 26, 2019 / Biovalley BIOON/ -- success is no accident: perseverance is needed to achieve goals But where does motivation come from? Recently, a team of international researchers led by scientists from the University of technology in Munich (tum) has identified the neural circuits in the brain of fruit flies, which enable them to maintain their best performance in the process of finding food The lab of Weihenstephan at the College of life sciences in tum did the experiment They fixed the upper body of fruit flies and gave them food odor related stimulation The smell of vinegar or fruit can make flies "walk" faster In order to get food, they can toss until they are exhausted But despite great efforts, they did not achieve their goals As the legs move, they push a ball that floats on the air cushion The speed of rotation reflects the efforts of fruit flies to find food (image source: www Pixabay Com) the researchers report: "our experiments show that flies improve their performance when they are hungry - they run nine meters per minute, compared with the full flies who give up quickly." Grunwald kadow, Professor of computational neuroscience at tum, julijana gjorgjieva, head of Max Planck Brain Research Institute in Frankfurt, and a team of international interdisciplinary researchers have identified the Shenjing circuit in the brain produced by Drosophila "The brains of these flies are a million times smaller than those of humans," the authors explain This makes it much easier to study the function of a single neuron In this way, we can understand the principles of neural circuits, which also form the basis of complex brain functions " Power of neurons to determine the neural circuits responsible for power, the team used a variety of techniques: first, they created a mathematical model that simulated the interaction of external and internal stimuli, such as the smell of vinegar and hunger Next, neural scientists at tum worked with colleagues in the United States and the United Kingdom to identify networks of interest in the brain of fruit flies This is achieved by means of electron microscopy, in vivo imaging and behavior experiments The results showed that the related neural circuits were located in the learning and memory center of fly brain It is controlled by dopamine and octopamine, two neurotransmitters related to noradrenaline Dopamine can increase the activity of the circuit, thus improving the perseverance and expressiveness of Drosophila "Because these neurotransmitters and their circuits are also present in the mammalian brain, we believe that a similar mechanism determines whether we move forward or give up," the neurobiologist concluded In the long run, the researchers hope their findings will help to understand why the interaction between neurons and messenger substances in the brain can get out of control in addictive diseases In this paper, the author analyzes the characteristics of D Bock, Marta Costa, Gregory S.X.E Jefferis, Julijana Gjorgjieva, Ilona C Grunwald Kadow A Neural Circuit Arbitrates between Persistence and Withdrawal in Hungry Drosophila Neuron , 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.07.028