title: Synphilin suppresses α-synuclein neurotoxicity in a Parkinson's disease Drosophila model.
abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in humans. It affects 1% of the population over 65-years old. Its causes are environmental and genetic. As the world population ages, there is an urgent need for better and more detailed animal models for this kind of disease. In this work we show that the use of transgenic Drosophila is comparable to more complicated and costly animal models such as mice. The Drosophila model behaves very similar to the equivalent transgenic mice model. We show that both Synphilin-1 and α-synuclein are toxic by themselves, but when co-expressed, they suppress their toxicity reciprocally. Importantly, the symptoms induced in the fly can be treated and partially reverted using standard PD pharmacological treatments. This work showcases Drosophila as a detailed and multifaceted model for Parkinson's disease, providing a convenient platform in which to study and find new genetic modifiers of PD. genesis 49:392-402, 2011.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Genética del Desarrollo y Fisiología Molecular, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, México.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hernández-Vargas
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fonseca-Ornelas
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: López-González
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Riesgo-Escovar
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zurita
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reynaud
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002230:Carbidopa / Q000494:pharmacology; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004330:Drosophila / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007980:Levodopa / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020258:Neurotoxicity Syndromes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D051844:alpha-Synuclein; D007980:Levodopa; D002230:Carbidopa