1. The effects of eugenol as an anesthetic for an insect: Drosophila, adults, larval heart rate and synaptic transmission

2. Anesthesia Carbon dioxide Cold FlyNap
Alterations in behaviour up to one week (Bartholomew et al., 2015)
Drop in blood and cellular pH → cellular consequences
Cold
tissue damage
delayed copulation of adult flies after exposure (Barron, 2000)
FlyNap
Increases HR
Alters immune response (Chen and Hillyer, 2013)

3. Eugenol 2-methoxy-4-prop-2-enylphenol
Active compound of clove oil (essential oil, ~80%)
Dental anaesthetic (FLEMICANE)
Perfume
Commonly used anaesthetic in fish

4. Eugenol-possible mechanisms
Blocking neural function by
Blocking TTX-sensitive voltage-gated Na+-channels

5. Material and Methods wildtype Canton S (CS) Drosophila melanogaster
Experiments with adult flies
Larvae experiments

6. Eugenol exposure of adult flies

7. Behavioural assays
Climbing assay
Vortex test righting assay

8. Eugenol exposure of larva

9. Behavioural assays
Mouth hooks (MHM)
Body wall contraction (BWC)

10. Electrophysiological experiments
Heart rate (HR)
Dasari, S. and Cooper, R.L. (2006) Journal of Comparative Physiology B 176: 349–357.

11. Electrophysiological recordings

12. Electrophysiological recordings
Stimulation frequency:
0.5 Hz

13. Results

14. Eugenol exposure adults
N = per vial

15. Behavioral assay
Climbing assay
Vortex test righting assay

16. Larva behavioural assay
N = 10 per group
* P ≤ 0.05
** p ≤ 0.001

17. Larval HR
N = 6
* p ≤ 0.05

18. Electrophysiologcal recordings

20. Take home message Anesthetizes the fly Block of evoked transmission
Reversible effects
Block of evoked transmission
No block of glutamate receptors
Reduction of heart rate
Inhibition of sensory reception

21. Parallel projects + Opener muscle + Mucle receptor organ (MRO)
+ PD organ