The bees became overly excited about routine tasks, suffered from impaired performance, and then withdrawal symptoms when the cocaine was removed.
For example, bees do a "waggle dance" to show other bees the location of flowers with pollen. Under the influence of cocaine, bees danced twice as often and 25 percent faster. When cocaine was withdrawn, the bees had problems performing routine tasks.
Dr. Andrew Barron and his colleagues at Macquarie University dropped liquid freebase cocaine on the backs of bees. The drug easily entered their brains and circulatory systems, changing their behaviors in significant ways.
"What we have in the bee is a wonderfully simple system to see how brains react to a drug of abuse," Dr. Barron said.
This study appeared in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Labels: cocaine, research, bees
Posted By: Aspen Education Group