Determination of trace element changes during aestivation of Drosophila melanogaster by WDXRF analyses at high temperature

Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) were exposed to high temperature (35 +/- 1 degrees C, 1-3 h) after controlled acclimation (30 +/- 1 degrees C, 30 min) and went into artificial aestivation. The concentrations of elements in almost 1000 mature flies were measured by Wavelength Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (WDXRF) spectrometry. It was observed that there were drastic opposing changes in some element concentrations (Cr, Cu, Al, Si, Cl etc.) in our mesurements achieved after 1, 2 and 3 hours of heat treatments with comparison to their controls. For example, concentrations of Al, Cu, Si were higher than their controls (+129%, +259% and +362% respectively) after the first hour measurements. But changes in percentage of the amounts of Al and Cu elements were significantly lower after the second hour measurements (-6.4%, -1.7% respectively). After the third hour, changes of concentrations of the Si, Al% were the highest (+363%, +165% respectively. Cr element was not detected after the first and second hour of measurements, and changes of its concentration was -42.7% after three hours of measurement with comparasion to control. We report here the presence of an association between aestivation of D. melanogaster and some elements (especially Cu, Cr, Si and Al).