Abstract
Fluoride occurs naturally in the terrestrial and aquatic environment and is a major component in tea. Prolonged fluoride exposure alters metabolic activity in several aquatic invertebrates. For the first time, we investigated the effects of fluoride on cognition in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis as it is capable of a higher form of associative learning called configural learning. We first showed suppressive effects of black tea and fluoride on feeding (i.e., rasping) behavior. We then investigated how fluoride may alter cognition by introducing fluoride (1.86 mg/L) before, during, after, a day before and a week before the snails underwent the configural learning training procedure. Our results show that any 45-min exposure to fluoride (before, during or after a configural learning training procedure) blocks configural learning memory formation in Lymnaea and these effects are long-lasting. One week after a fluoride exposure, snails are still unable to form a configural learning memory and this result is upheld when the snails are exposed to a lower concentration of fluoride, one which is naturally occurring in ponds that a wild strain of Lymnaea can be found (0.3 mg/L). Thus, fluoride obstructs configural learning memory formation in a fluoride-naïve, inbred strain of Lymnaea.
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Abbreviations
- BT:
-
Black tea
- C:
-
Carrot slurry
- cAMP:
-
Cyclic adenosine monophosphate
- CL:
-
Configural learning
- CREB:
-
CAMP response extracellular binding protein
- ERK:
-
Extracellular signal related kinase
- F:
-
Fluoride
- LTM:
-
Long-term memory
- MAPK:
-
Mitogen-activated protein kinase
- PW:
-
Pond water
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Funding
The current study was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [grant number: 227993-2019].
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BW: conceptualization, data collection and analysis, writing original draft AB: conceptualization, data collection and analysis, review and editing, supervision. KL: conceptualization, review and editing, supervision, funding.
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The pond snails used in our study, Lymnaea stagnalis are found in the Holarctic geographical region in abundant numbers and are neither an endangered nor a protected species. Experiments on pond snails are not subject to the approval of our respective animal ethics committees. Nonetheless, every effort was made to minimize the number of animals used ensuring adequate food, clean oxygenated water, and low-density conditions.
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Wiley, B., Batabyal, A. & Lukowiak, K. Fluoride alters feeding and memory in Lymnaea stagnalis. J Comp Physiol A 208, 267–277 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-021-01528-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-021-01528-9