RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VISUAL LEARNING MEMORY ABILITY AND BRAIN CAMP LEVEL IN DROSOPHILA/

Using the flight simulator system, the operant conditioned visual flig ht orientation behavior in Drosophila was studied. It was demonstrated that the visual learning performance is associated with age; flies le arn more reliably at 3-4 days than at 1-2 days of age; the cAMP level of brain is also increasing with age; the brain cAMP con tent of nonle arner flies of wild type is much higher than that of normal flies; the cAMP level of brain increased abnormally after being fed with caffein e, and the learning performance decreased. These results imply that a moderate range of cAMP level is necessary for the visual learning and memory process. Abnormally high or low level of cAMP causes defects of learning and memory ability.