Do Flies Have Cells?

When studying insect brain function, one of the questions that comes up is: do flies have cells? The answer depends on the particular species, but in general, it is likely that the insects have hundreds of thousands of cells in their brains. Fortunately, the fly brain has a small enough size that researchers have been able to study individual cells and their interactions with one another. For example, Drosophila has over 200,000 cells in its adult brain. Similarly, mosquito brain cells contain about 220,000 neurons that originate from its optic lobes. It is also possible to study the distribution of neurons in the brains of insects.

The Drosophila melanogaster fly is an excellent model for studying age-related brain changes. Since its lifespan is so short, the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is the perfect model to study the process of aging in the brain. Scientists can manipulate its genetics to study how age-related changes affect the brain.

In fact, fruit flies share a lot of similarities with humans. They have a four-chromosome genome, which makes them a popular model organism.