ArticleFASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology2015
Chronic exposure to neonicotinoids increases neuronal vulnerability to mitochondrial dysfunction in the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris).
Article in FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 40 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neonicotinoid Insecticides and Their Impacts on Bees: A Systematic Review of Research Approaches and Identification of Knowledge Gaps.PloS one · 2015Pooled it
- Sublethal Acetamiprid Exposure Induces Ovarian Degeneration and HSP70/HSP90 Overexpression in Honey Bee Queens (Veterinary sciences · 2026Article
- Disruption of Antioxidant Defense Systems in Honey Bees and Wild Bees Under Environmental Xenobiotic Pressure.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Fitness costs of sublethal cyantraniliprole exposure: life-history trade-offs in the non-target insect Musca domestica.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Comparative lipidomic and proteomic analysis reveals species-specific differences in midgut composition and insecticide absorption between Apis mellifera and Bombus terrestris.Pest management science · 2026Article
- Diverse Sublethal Effects of a Common Fungicide Impact the Behavior and Physiology of Honey Bees.Insects · 2025Article
- Targeting PDK2 rescues stress-induced impaired brain energy metabolism.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
- Using the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera L.) Cell Line AmE-711 to Evaluate Insecticide Toxicity.Environmental toxicology and chemistry · 2023Article
- Environmental pharmacology-Dosing the environment: IUPHAR review 36.British journal of pharmacology · 2022Article
- The flavonoid rutin protects the bumble bee Bombus impatiens against cognitive impairment by imidacloprid and fipronil.The Journal of experimental biology · 2022Article
- Associations of neonicotinoids with insulin and glucose homeostasis parameters in US adults: NHANES 2015-2016.Chemosphere · 2022Article
- An update of the Worldwide Integrated Assessment (WIA) on systemic insecticides. Part 1: new molecules, metabolism, fate, and transport.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021Review
- Impacts of Neonicotinoids on the Bumble Bees Bombus terrestris and Bombus impatiens Examined through the Lens of an Adverse Outcome Pathway Framework.Environmental toxicology and chemistry · 2021Review
- Acute Imidacloprid Exposure Alters Mitochondrial Function in Bumblebee Flight Muscle and Brain.Frontiers in insect science · 2021Article
- Improved mitochondrial function corrects immunodeficiency and impaired respiration in neonicotinoid exposed bumblebees.PloS one · 2021Article
- The Power ofFrontiers in physiology · 2021Review
- Acute Application of Imidacloprid Alters the Sensitivity of Direction Selective Motion Detecting Neurons in an Insect Pollinator.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Article
- The Neurophysiological Bases of the Impact of Neonicotinoid Pesticides on the Behaviour of Honeybees.Insects · 2019Review
- Pesticide exposure affects flight dynamics and reduces flight endurance in bumblebees.Ecology and evolution · 2019Article
- Caste- and pesticide-specific effects of neonicotinoid pesticide exposure on gene expression in bumblebees.Molecular ecology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issuedErratum.2017
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The global decline in the abundance and diversity of insect pollinators could result from habitat loss, disease, and pesticide exposure. The contribution of the neonicotinoid insecticides (e.g., clothianidin and imidacloprid) to this decline is controversial, and key to understanding their risk is whether the astonishingly low levels found in the nectar and pollen of plants is sufficient to deliver neuroactive levels to their site of action: the bee brain. Here we show that bumblebees (Bombus terrestris audax) fed field levels [10 nM, 2.1 ppb (w/w)] of neonicotinoid accumulate between 4 and 10 nM in their brains within 3 days. Acute (minutes) exposure of cultured neurons to 10 nM clothianidin, but not imidacloprid, causes a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-dependent rapid mitochondrial depolarization. However, a chronic (2 days) exposure to 1 nM imidacloprid leads to a receptor-dependent increased sensitivity to a normally innocuous level of acetylcholine, which now also causes rapid mitochondrial depolarization in neurons. Finally, colonies exposed to this level of imidacloprid show deficits in colony growth and nest condition compared with untreated colonies. These findings provide a mechanistic explanation for the poor navigation and foraging observed in neonicotinoid treated bumblebee colonies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.