Localization of glutamate in the nervous system of the fly Drosophila melanogaster: An immunocytochemical study

Localization of glutamate in the central nervous system of the fly Drosophila melanogaster was studied using highly specific polyclonal rabbit antibody to glutamate conjugated to the bovine serum albumin. Glutamate was revealed in the mushroom body Canyon cells, whose processes were traced in the stem of the mushroom bodies, then entered their α- and β-blades. A group of four glutamate-containing cells (vln) is located ventrally on the border of the lateral procerebrum and medulla. The main process of each cell formed glutamate-containing varicose branchings in the dorsal part of the mushroom body cup. It has been established that lateral neurons of the central body of the Fl- and Fml-types were immunostained positively for glutamate. The obtained data on distribution of glutamate-containing cells in the brain centers studied in Drosophila indicate participation of glutamate in integration of the sensory information and locomotor coordination.