Neurons with dopamine-like immunoreactivity target mushroom body Kenyon cell somata in the brain of some hymenopteran insects

The mushroom bodies of the insect brain are centers for olfactory and multimodal information processing and they are involved in associative olfactory learning. They are comprised of numerous (340,000 in the bee brain), small (3-8 mu m soma diameter) local interneurons, the Kenyon cells. In the brain of honeybees (Apis mellifera) of all castes (worker bees, drones and queens), wasps (Vespula germanica) and hornets (Vespa crabro) immunostaining revealed fibers with dopamine-like immunoreactivity projecting from the pedunculus and the lip neuropil of the mushroom bodies into the Kenyon cell perikaryal layer. These fibers terminate with numerous varicosities, mainly around the border between medial and lateral Kenyon cell soma groups. Visualization of immunostained terminals in the transmission electron microscope showed that they directly contact the somata of the Kenyon cells and contain presynaptic elements. The somata of the Kenyon cells are clearly non-immunoreactive. Synaptic contacts at the somata are unusual for the central nervous systems of insects and other arthropods. This finding suggests that the somata of the Kenyon cells of Hymenoptera may serve an integrative role, and not merely a supportive function. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.