A Method to Quantify Drosophila Behavioral Activities Induced by GABAA Agonist Muscimol.
Bio-protocol April 20, 2021 M Rezaul Karim
Muscimol, a psychoactive compound from Amanita muscaria, activates GABAA receptors and suppresses central nervous system activity, reducing anxiety and inducing sleep. Researchers developed a simple, cost-effective method for feeding muscimol to adult fruit flies and for quantifying their resting versus grooming-plus-walking behaviors. This protocol offers a convenient way to characterize how small molecules alter fly behavior, potentially linking behavioral changes to underlying neural functions.