Figure 3.

Peroxiredoxins (Prxs, red dots) can have protective effects in the ageing brain. It is not clear if Prxs respond to social contact between people (top panel), but one enzyme, Prx-6, is elevated in old bee brains that experience improved function after a social change. This social change involves the removal of young bees that do in-nest duties in the colony, such that old bees must switch from foraging to nursing larvae (mid panels). This task-switch is a behavioural reversion for the bees, because about all of them were nurses before they became foragers. Old reverted nurses that improve in brain function have greater than twofold higher Prx-6 levels than those bees that continue to forage (bottom panel).