Whole-mount analysis reveals normal numbers of dopaminergic neurons following misexpression of alpha-Synuclein in Drosophila.
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.
Pesah
Yakov
Y
Division of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Burgess
Heather
H
Middlebrooks
Brooke
B
Ronningen
Kari
K
Prosser
Jude
J
Tirunagaru
Vijaya
V
Zysk
John
J
Mardon
Graeme
G
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
D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; C497604:SNCA protein, human; D051843:Synucleins; D051844:alpha-Synuclein