A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Dietary Escitalopram Reduces Movement Variability and Enhances Behavioral Predictability in Drosophila melanogaster




AuthorsKolbjonoks, Vadims; Popovs, Sergejs; Krams, Ronalds; Trakimas, Giedrius; Munkevics, Māris; Krama, Tatjana; Rantala, Markus J.; Contreras-Garduño, Jorge; de Souza, André Rodrigues; Adams, Colton B.; Jõers, Priit; Krams, Indrikis

PublisherMDPI AG

Publication year2025

Journal: Biology

Volume15

Issue51

eISSN2079-7737

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.3390/biology15010051

Publication's open availability at the time of reportingOpen Access

Publication channel's open availability Open Access publication channel

Web address https://doi.org/10.3390/biology15010051

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/508528699

Self-archived copy's licenceCC BY

Self-archived copy's versionPublisher`s PDF


Abstract

Behavioral individuality, often termed animal personality, reflects consistent patterns of behavioral variability across individuals. In fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), pharmacological and dietary manipulations affecting neuromodulatory systems have been shown to alter behavior, but their effects on behavioral predictability remain incompletely understood. Here, we investigated whether developmental dietary exposure to tryptophan (a serotonin precursor) or escitalopram (a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, SSRI) is associated with changes in lateralized turning behavior. Flies were reared from larval stages on supplemented media and tested in a Y-maze assay to assess movement predictability. Flies exposed to escitalopram displayed significantly reduced behavioral variability compared to controls, indicated by a lower median absolute deviation (MAD) of turning behavior, whereas tryptophan supplementation did not significantly affect variability. Because both compounds were tested at a single dietary dose and serotonergic activity was not directly measured, these findings should be interpreted as dose-specific behavioral effects rather than evidence of altered serotonergic tone or mechanism. Our results demonstrate that chronic developmental exposure to escitalopram is associated with increased behavioral predictability in fruit flies, highlighting the utility of high-throughput behavioral assays for detecting subtle pharmacologically induced changes in individual variability. Future studies incorporating dose–response designs and physiological validation will be required to establish underlying mechanisms.


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Funding information in the publication
This publication/research supported within the framework of the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Mechanism project No. 5.2.1.1.i.0/2/24/I/CFLA/001 “Consolidation of the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis and the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre”.


Last updated on 26/01/2026 12:04:35 PM