STKE: The Queen of Dopamine
L. Bryan Ray
The queen bee controls the physiology and behavior of her fellow bees and essentially determines the workings of the entire society of insects. The queen exerts this influence by producing a cocktail of pheromones known as queen mandibular pheromone (QMP), but it has not been clear just how the mixture produces its effects. Beggs et al. noted that one component of QMP, homovanillyl alcohol (4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylethanol or HVA) has a chemical structure similar to that of the neurotransmitter dopamine. The authors therefore tested the effects of the pheromone on dopaminergic function in worker bees. Exposure of newly emerged adult bees to QMP for 2 days decreased the amount of mRNA transcript encoding one of the bee's dopamine receptors. Cultured neurons from the bees' mushroom body normally respond to dopamine with an increase in production of cAMP (adenosine 3′-5′monophosphate), but neurons taken from bees exposed to QMP showed a small decrease in the production of cAMP. HVA produced responses similar to those evoked by dopamine. Total amounts of dopamine in the brain were reduced in bees exposed to HVA for 2 days. Thus, the HVA in the QMP mixture may interact directly with dopamine receptors in the bee nervous system, perhaps decreasing the expression of dopamine receptors and thus altering the response of the neurons to endogenous dopamine. -- LBR

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104, 2460 (2007).

I remember someone in the old BT telling of an old man in her village who had managed PD for years with royal jelly from his bees.

I have been taking royal jelly for awhile, because it contains no pun intended
all the "B" vitamins, and some trace minerals -etc.
went to the neurologist, the other morning, I almost missed my appt.
so I through on my clothes, washed my face and brushed teeth,
I looked well - yucky!
anyway -the doctor told me - that I looked good - I thought he was
after a million visits, trying to be nice with a "complement"?
I said, oh no, I look terrible, and neuro answered -
I meant your PD!!!
LMAO!
what have you been taking?
and he wrote down "methylcobalamine".

wish to read about the Queen bee - linky -
http://www.answers.com/topic/queen-bee-2

It was me, Everett. He's the father of a good friend of ours, he's in his 70's and has had PD for 18 years and still rides his little motorbike, tends his cattle and plays cards with his friends in the village tavern every evening! He does take levadopa, of course, but other than that, he takes no food supplements or vitamins, other than Royal Jelly.

do you think it possible that dopamine receptor activity is decreased in adult bees exposed to the queen so they do not exhibit pleasure seeking behavior--just working behavior???? I think an anthropomorphized story is in the wings here. must stop before punning really runs away with me. madelyn

Little old men are best listened to...

1: Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2005 Apr;69(4):800-5.

Oral administration of royal jelly facilitates mRNA expression of glial cell
line-derived neurotrophic factor and neurofilament H in the hippocampus of the
adult mouse brain.

Hashimoto M, Kanda M, Ikeno K, Hayashi Y, Nakamura T, Ogawa Y, Fukumitsu H,
Nomoto H, Furukawa S.

Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Gifu Pharmaceutical University, Gifu 502-8585,
Japan.

Royal jelly (RJ) is known to have a variety of biological activities toward
various types of cells and tissues of animal models, but nothing is known about
its effect on brain functions. Hence, we examined the effect of oral
administration of RJ on the mRNA expression of various neurotrophic factors,
their receptors, and neural cell markers in the mouse brain. Our results
revealed that RJ selectively facilitates the mRNA expression of glial cell
line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), a potent neurotrophic factor acting in
the brain, and neurofilament H, a specific marker predominantly found in
neuronal axons, in the adult mouse hippocampus. These observations suggest that
RJ shows neurotrophic effects on the mature brain via stimulation of GDNF
production, and that enhanced expression of neurofilament H mRNA is involved in
events subsequently caused by GDNF. RJ may play neurotrophic and/or
neuroprotective roles in the adult brain through GDNF.

PMID: 15849420 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]