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dc.contributor.authorRamírez-Moreno, D.M.
dc.contributor.authorLubinus, K.F.
dc.contributor.authorRiveros, A.J.
dc.date.accessioned2022-12-15T22:41:09Z
dc.date.available2022-12-15T22:41:09Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.identifier.citationRamírez-Moreno, D. M., Lubinus, K. F., & Riveros, A. J. (2022). The flavonoid kaempferol protects the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster against the motor impairment produced by exposure to the insecticide fipronil. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 225(20).
dc.identifier.issn1477-9145
dc.identifier.pmid36172773
dc.identifier.doi10.1242/jeb.244556
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10150/667201
dc.description.abstractExposure to pesticides across species has been associated with cognitive and motor impairments. As the problem impacts ecosystem stability, food production and public health, it is urgent to develop multifactorial solutions, from regulatory legislation to pharmacological alternatives that ameliorate the impairments. Fipronil, a commonly used insecticide, acts as a GABAA receptor (GABAAR) antagonist and induces motor impairments in vertebrates and invertebrates. Here, we hypothesized that kaempferol, a secondary metabolite derived from plants, acting as an allosteric modulator of GABAARs, would protect against the negative effects induced by the administration of fipronil in adults of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. We further evaluated our hypothesis via co-administration of flumazenil, a competitive antagonist on the GABAAR, and through in silico analyses. We administered kaempferol prophylactically at three concentrations (10, 30 and 50 µmol l-1) and evaluated its protective effects against motor impairments induced by fipronil. We then used a single dose of kaempferol (50 µmol l-1) to evaluate its protective effect while administering flumazenil. We found that oral administration of fipronil impaired motor control and walking ability. In contrast, kaempferol was innocuous and protected flies from developing the motor-impaired phenotype, whereas the co-administration of flumazenil counteracted these protective effects. These results are supported by the binding of the ligands with the receptor. Together, our results suggest that kaempferol exerts a protective effect against fipronil via positive allosteric modulation of GABAARs, probably within brain areas such as the central complex and the mushroom bodies. These findings further support current attempts to use metabolites derived from plants as protectors against impairments produced by pesticides. © 2022. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherCompany of Biologists
dc.rightsCopyright © 2022 Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectCentral complex
dc.subjectDopamine
dc.subjectFlumazenil
dc.subjectGABA
dc.subjectMotor control
dc.subjectMushroom bodies
dc.titleThe flavonoid kaempferol protects the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster against the motor impairment produced by exposure to the insecticide fipronil
dc.typeArticle
dc.typetext
dc.contributor.departmentDepartment of Neuroscience, School of Brain, Mind and Behavior, University of Arizona
dc.identifier.journalThe Journal of experimental biology
dc.description.noteOpen access article
dc.description.collectioninformationThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.
dc.eprint.versionFinal published version
dc.source.journaltitleThe Journal of experimental biology
refterms.dateFOA2022-12-15T22:41:09Z


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Copyright © 2022 Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Copyright © 2022 Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.