Scientific Focus
In my group we investigate the neurobiological bases of behavioral plasticity. Our model systems include the honeybee, Apis mellifera, and the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster. We analyse the cellular processes underlying memory formation. For this we study the physiological properties of identified neurons and their regulation by neuromodulators at various levels: ionic currents, calcium dynamics, molecular biology and computer simulations. Systemic and applied aspects are particularly important. In behavioral experiments we analyse the control of behavior such as learning by higher brain centers using behavioral pharmacology, local anesthetic injections or gene silencing approaches.
Methods
Patch Clamp, Calcium imaging, Intracellular recordings,
Behavioral pharmacology, Cell culture, Molecular biology,
Histology, Immuncytochemistry, Computer simulations.
Selected Publications
Wersing A and Grünewald B (2008) An ionotropic GABA receptor in cultured mushroom body Kenyon cells of the honeybee and its modulation by internal calcium. J Comp Physiol [A] 194:329-340.
Devaud J-M, Blunk A, Podufall J, Giurfa M and Grünewald B (2007) Using local anesthetics to block neuronal activity and map specific learning tasks to the mushroom bodies of an insect brain. Eur. J. Neurosci. 26:3193-3206.
Kirschner S, Kleineidam CJ, Zube C, Rybak J, Grünewald B, Rössler W (2006) The dual olfactory pathway in the honeybee, Apis mellifera. J Comp Neurol 499:933-952.
Gauthier M, Thany SH, Niggebrügge C, Déglise P, Armengaud C, Kljucevic P, Monneris A, Grünewald B (2006) Involvement of -bungarotoxin-sensitive nicotinic receptors in long-term memory formation in the honeybee, Apis mellifera. Neurobiol Learn Mem 86:164-174.
Wüstenberg D and Grünewald B (2004) Pharmacology of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor of cultured Kenyon cells of the honeybee, Apis mellifera. J Comp Physiol [A] 190: 807-821
Wüstenberg DG, Boytcheva M, Grünewald B, Baxter DA, Byrne JH, Menzel R (2004) Current- and voltage-clamp analyses and computer simulations of Kenyon cells in the honeybee. J Neurophysiol 92: 2589-603
Grünewald B (2003) Differential expression of voltage-sensitive K+ and Ca2+ currents in neurons of the honeybee olfactory pathway. J Exp Biol 206:117-129
Déglise P, Grünewald B, and Gauthier M (2002) The insecticide imidacloprid is an agonist of the honeybee neuronal nicotinic receptor. Neurosci Lett 321:13-16