Social interactions influence dopamine and octopamine homeostasis in the brain of the ant Formica japonica

Abstract

In ants, including Formica japonica, trophallaxis and grooming are typical social behaviors shared among nestmates. After depriving ants of either food or nestmates and then providing them with either food or nestmates, a behavioral change in type and frequency of social interactions was observed. We hypothesized that starvation and isolation affected levels of brain biogenic amines including dopamine (DA) and octopamine (OA) - neuromediators modifying various insect behaviors - and tested the relationship between brain biogenic amines and social behaviors of stressed ants. Ants starved for 7 days contained lower brain DA levels and they did not perform trophallaxis toward nestmates. Feeding starved ants sucrose solution re-established trophallaxis but not brain DA levels. The performance of trophallaxis induced recovery of brain DA content to the level of untreated ants. Ants that were isolated for 2 days displayed markedly increased OA levels, which following nestmate interactions, returned to levels similar to those of control (non-isolated) ants and ants isolated for 1 h. We conclude that: (1) starvation reduced brain DA level but had no significant effect on brain OA (trophallaxis recovered the brain DA levels), and (2) isolation increased brain OA level but had no effect on brain DA (trophallaxis and grooming events recovered the brain OA levels). We suggest that social interactions with nestmates influenced brain biogenic amine homeostasis in stressed F. japonica.