Did you know that fruit flies can even become addicted to cocaine? By studying how these tiny creatures behave when exposed to cocaine, researchers can gain a better understanding of the neurological and behavioral mechanisms underlying addiction. In this talk, we'll explore how fruit flies have been used to study cocaine addiction and the new network-based measures that have been revealed through the analysis of their social interaction networks. This data-driven approach can help us better understand the genetic and environmental factors that influence both drug addiction and social behavior.

1. Networks,
Cocaine, and
Fruit Flies: A
Data-Driven
Approach
DSC Adria 2023
Milan Petrović
University of Rijeka,
Faculty of Informatics and Digital Technologies
milan.petrovic@uniri.hr

2. But why fruit flies?
Life cycle ~ 10 days
Genetic manipulation
Similarity between humans and flies

3. What is social interaction?

4. Influence of isolation
• isolation from the group increase METH self-administration in flies
• social interaction as positive reinforcer in the drug addiction
-1.25
-1.00
-0.75
-0.50
-0.25
0.00
0.25
0.50
0.75
1.00
1.25
Day1 Day2 Day3
prefrence
uL/day/fly
without isolation with 2 days of isolation
Reinforcement theory of motivation

5. Experiments
Data acquisition system
24 hours before recording

6. Tracking
Caltech FlyTracker

7. Social space and interactions
Automated identification of social interaction criteria in Drosophila melanogaster

8. Networks

9. Results
A network-based analysis detects cocaine-induced changes in social interactions in Drosophila melanogaster

10. Communities
CTRL: HIGH MODULARITY
• many links within and few links between
COC: LOW MODULARITY
• few links within and many links between

11. Fragile X
• Collaboration with prof. Dragana Protić and her team from Institute of Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology
and Toxicology; Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia
https://polyfrax.com/
Distance
traveled

12. What
next?

13. Questions?

14. NO!

15. Thank you!
• milan.petrovic@uniri.hr
• Github: milanXpetrovic
• Faculty of Informatics and Digital Technologies
• Laboratory for Behavioral Genetics
• Laboratory for Semantic Technologies
In collaboration with Ana Meštrović, Ana Filošević Vujnović, Franka Rigo, Rozi Andretić Waldowski