title: Whole-mount analysis reveals normal numbers of dopaminergic neurons following misexpression of alpha-Synuclein in Drosophila.
abstract: Previously published reports have suggested that misexpression of alpha-Synuclein in the Drosophila central nervous system causes neurodegeneration and progressive age-dependent locomotor dysfunction similar to pathologic and clinical manifestations of Parkinson's disease. The number of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in these studies was assessed using immunohistochemistry with an anti-tyrosine hydroxylase antibody on sequential paraffin sections of fly brains. In contrast, we do not observe any DA cell loss in alpha-Synuclein expressing fly brains when using whole-mount immunohistochemistry as an assay. Our results suggest that the DA cell loss observed with misexpression of alpha-Synuclein is not fully penetrant under a variety of experimental conditions and that this may complicate interpretation of such experiments.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Yakov
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pesah
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Burgess
authors.forename: Brooke
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Middlebrooks
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ronningen
authors.forename: Jude
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prosser
authors.forename: Vijaya
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tirunagaru
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zysk
authors.forename: Graeme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mardon
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008124:Locomotion; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013048:Specimen Handling; D051843:Synucleins; D051844:alpha-Synuclein
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; C497604:SNCA protein, human; D051843:Synucleins; D051844:alpha-Synuclein