author(s)
Mehere PV, Patodkar VR and Pangaokar LA

abstract
Neurotransmission is a very important physiological process, which is characterized by three distinct stages: synthesis of the neurotransmitters; storage of the neurotransmitters, and release of these neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, and octopamine). Once they are released, neurotransmitters bind to activate receptors in postsynaptic membranes. Ultimately insects must deactivate of these neurotransmitters—either by the reuptake mechanism, or via enzymatic processing. In insects the monoamine oxidase which deactivates neurotransmitter has not been found and thus the role of arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase has been studied by many scientists. The study was designed to understand whether N-acetylation is the main pathway for deactivating the neurotransmitters. In the present study under our conditions melatonin and N-acetylserotonin were not detected from the mosquito body extracts, but in the serotonin-fed samples, an increase in the level of dopamine was observed under qualitative conditions.