From owner-drosophila@net.bio.net Thu May 11 23:00:00 1995 Newsgroups: bionet.drosophila Path: biosci!daresbury!sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk!uknet!newsfeed.ed.ac.uk!leeds.ac.uk!news From: pab6awd@leeds.ac.uk (A.J. Davis) Subject: Re: CO2 Anesthetization Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: pab_pc74.leeds.ac.uk Organization: University of Leeds Date: Fri, 12 May 1995 16:34:41 +0100 (BST) References: <9505102022.AA19965@newpisgah.keene.edu> X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev A] Lines: 27 In article <9505102022.AA19965@newpisgah.keene.edu> kbergman@keene.edu (Kenneth D. Bergman) writes: > I'd like to explore the use of CO2 as a fly anesthetic. (CO2 >use might be more compatible with other functions in a multiple-use lab >facility). in the main KDB's questions have already been answered but i'd like to add two points: - sensitivity to CO2 differs between strains and between species. Most D melanogaster, D simulans strains are CO2 tolerant but there are some that are not. Furthermore, most Drosophila species are CO2 *intolerant* - not surprisingly since most Dros are *unlike* melanogaster and *don't* develop, court or lay eggs on fermenting substrates. For sensitive strains or species 2 minutes in CO2 is fatal but CO2 can still be used by keeping the exposure time short and the concentration low. - CO2 has long term effects on behaviour, especially egg laying. If your experiments involve behaviour at all then avoid CO2. Andrew Davis .