Serotonin‐immunoreactive neurons in the brain of the honeybee

Abstract

The distribution of serotonin‐immunoreactive neurons in the brain of the worker honey bee Apis mellifera was studied by means of immunocytochemical staining by using a well‐characterized antibody to serotonin (5‐HT). About 75 immunoreactive perikarya are grouped into clusters in the optic lobe and in the median and dorsal protocerebrum. Immunoreactive fibers were resolved in all areas of the brain. The optic lobe shows restricted layers of 5‐HT‐immunoreactive fibers in the lamina and medulla organized perpendicular to the retinotopic elements. Immunoreactive fibers in the lobula represent invasions of protocerebral giant wide‐field neurons. The nonglomerular neuropil of the brain exhibits a meshwork of immunoreactive fibres invading glomerular neuropil of the mushroom bodies, central body complex, and antennal lobes. Mushroom body stalks and lobes contain immunoreactive fibers arranged perpendicular to the Kenyon cell fibers and matching subcompartments of these corpora pedunculata areas. The calyces are devoid of immunofluorescence. Serotonin‐positive fibres in the central body complex are arranged in its subcompartments. No 5‐HT immunoreactivity was found in the pons. Antennal glomeruli contain immunoreactive fibers restricted around the margin of the glomeruli. The selective mapping of 5‐HT‐immunoreactive neurons complements studies on the distribution of monoamine‐containing neurons in the bee brain. Serotonin‐ and catecholamine‐containing neurons often occur together in the same brain areas and subcompartments. The immunohistochemical approach in chemoneuroanatomy gives new evidence for a more complicated architecture of the brain than could be deduced from the classical neuroanatomical studies.