Optogenetic stimulation of DANs
With the focus on dopaminergic neurons, I conducted two experiments with two different driver lines to see how the naive gustatory behavior in Drosophila larvae is affected.
The first cross I tested was R58E02-Gal4 x UAS-ChR2-XXL, which gave me the following results:
As seen in the figures, there was no effect under blue light.
For the second experiment I crossed TH-Gal4 x UAS-ChR2-XXL with these results:
With this experiment, there was an effect on gustatory behavior as there is a clear significant difference between the experimental group and the control group.
Preferences with higher salt concentration
The following plots show the results after I increased the salt concentration from 1,5M to 2,5M. It shows that the difference between the control groups and experimental group are not significant anymore.
Preference results: pure vs salt
The first plot of each group show my results from the week before, and the ones beneath show the final results for red and blue light, after filling the sample size up to 20n.
Red light:
for comparison, this plot shows the control groups for the remaining 8n I had left separately:
Blue light:
Preference Results for Canton S
The following shows the preference and avoidance towards Sugar and Salt for the Canton S larvae. In addition, the larvae were tested unter blue/room light, to see if there were any differences.
Preference Results for Canton S larvae, Pure vs Sugar and Pure vs Salt
The following figures show the results of the preference tests with Canton S. I tested Pure vs Sugar and Pure vs Salt under two different circumstances. I tested the larvae in normal light and also under blue light.
