Pheidole lifespan task performance and neurobiological data

Lifespan task performance and neurobiological data from Giraldo YM, Kamhi JF, Fourcassié V, Moreau M, Robson SKA, Rusakov A, Wimberly L, Diloreto A, Kordek A, Traniello JFA (2015) Lifespan behavioral and neural resilience in a social insect.
Data consists of 9 files:
(1) Brood care acts
(2) Brood care time
(3) Trail following: Annulus half width indicates the half width of the area around the pheromone trail where ants were tracked
(4) Predation: Predation was classified into 4 categories: 1= no aggression, 2= mandible flaring, 3= latent attack (delayed or not sustained for the duration the assay), 4= attack
(5) Apoptosis: MB= mushroom bodies, AL= antennal lobes, OL = optic lobes, CC= central complex, SEZ= subesophageal zone RCB= remainder of the central brain. Brain region cells reflects the number of cells per brain region based on a subset of sampled brains (see methods for details). Proportion X (followed by brain region) reflects the amount of that brain region available for counting. Brain region prop indicates the proportion of apoptotic cells of each region scaled by the number of cells per region and the proportion of that region sampled. Brain region prop + 0.001 adds a constant for non-zero values. Log brain region prop are the log transformed values of brain region prop +0.001
(6) Microglomeruli: Lateral and medial refer to lateral and medial calyces. Distal and proximal refer to circles used for sampling
(7) Amines: DA and 5HT are raw values for the 20 ul sampled of homogenate sampled. Corr 5HT and Corr DA are whole brain titers
(8) Phototaxis
(9) Activity.
Abstract [Related Publication]: Analyses of senescence in social species are important to understanding how group living influences the evolution of ageing in society members. Social insects exhibit remarkable lifespan polyphenisms and division of labour, presenting excellent opportunities to test hypotheses concerning ageing and behaviour. Senescence patterns in other taxa suggest that behavioural performance in ageing workers would decrease in association with declining brain functions. Using the ant Pheidole dentata as a model, we found that 120-day-old minor workers, having completed 86% of their laboratory lifespan, showed no decrease in sensorimotor functions underscoring complex tasks such as alloparenting and foraging. Collaterally, we found no age-associated increases in apoptosis in functionally specialized brain compartments or decreases in synaptic densities in the mushroom bodies, regions associated with integrative processing. Furthermore, brain titres of serotonin and dopamine—neuromodulators that could negatively impact behaviour through age-related declines—increased in old workers. Unimpaired task performance appears to be based on the maintenance of brain functions supporting olfaction and motor coordination independent of age. Our study is the first to comprehensively assess lifespan task performance and its neurobiological correlates and identify constancy in behavioural performance and the absence of significant age-related neural declines.
The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.

本数据集源自Giraldo YM、Kamhi JF、Fourcassié V、Moreau M、Robson SKA、Rusakov A、Wimberly L、Diloreto A、Kordek A、Traniello JFA于2015年发表的《社会性昆虫的寿命行为与神经韧性》（Lifespan behavioral and neural resilience in a social insect）研究，包含寿命任务表现与神经生物学数据。
数据集共包含9个文件：
(1) 育幼行为（Brood care acts）
(2) 育幼时长（Brood care time）
(3) 路径追踪：环半宽度（Annulus half width）指被追踪蚂蚁围绕信息素路径的区域半宽度
(4) 捕食行为：将捕食行为划分为4个等级：1=无攻击行为，2=颚部张开威慑，3=潜在攻击（延迟或未在整个实验周期内持续），4=主动攻击
(5) 细胞凋亡（Apoptosis）：MB为蕈形体（mushroom bodies），AL为触角叶（antennal lobes），OL为视叶（optic lobes），CC为中央复合体（central complex），SEZ为食管下区（subesophageal zone），RCB为中枢脑其余区域（remainder of the central brain）。脑区细胞数（Brain region cells）指基于部分抽样大脑的各脑区细胞数量（详见方法部分）。X比例（附脑区名称，Proportion X (followed by brain region)）指该脑区可用于计数的区域占比。脑区比例（Brain region prop）指经各脑区细胞数与该脑区抽样占比校正后的各脑区凋亡细胞比例。脑区比例+0.001（Brain region prop + 0.001）为非零值添加常数项。对数脑区比例（Log brain region prop）为脑区比例+0.001的对数转换值。
(6) 微小球体（Microglomeruli）：外侧与内侧分别指外侧萼叶与内侧萼叶（lateral and medial calyces）；远端与近端指抽样所用的圆形区域。
(7) 单胺类物质（Amines）：DA（多巴胺，dopamine）与5HT（5-羟色胺，serotonin）为20μL匀浆样本的原始检测值；校正5HT（Corr 5HT）与校正多巴胺（Corr DA）为全脑滴度。
(8) 趋光性（Phototaxis）
(9) 活动度（Activity）

【相关文献摘要】对社会性物种衰老的分析，有助于理解群体生活如何影响社会成员的衰老演化进程。社会性昆虫展现出显著的寿命多态性与劳动分工，为检验衰老与行为相关假说提供了绝佳模型。其他类群的衰老模式提示，衰老工蚁的行为表现会随脑功能衰退而下降。本研究以大头蚁（Pheidole dentata）为模型，发现已完成实验室生命周期86%的120日龄小型工蚁，其支撑育幼与觅食等复杂任务的感觉运动功能并未出现衰退。同时，功能特化脑区的细胞凋亡未随年龄增长而增加，与整合加工相关的蕈形体突触密度也未出现下降。此外，随年龄增长的工蚁脑中，本可通过衰老相关衰退对行为产生负面影响的神经调质——5-羟色胺与多巴胺的全脑滴度反而升高。未受损的任务表现似乎依赖于不随年龄变化的、支撑嗅觉与运动协调的脑功能维持。本研究首次全面评估了寿命周期内的任务表现及其神经生物学关联，并证实了行为表现的稳定性与无显著年龄相关神经衰退现象。

完整实验方法可参见下述相关文献链接中的研究内容。