title: Drosophila Mutant Model of Parkinson's Disease Revealed an Unexpected Olfactory Performance: Morphofunctional Evidences.
abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the clinical triad: tremor, akinesia, and rigidity. Several studies have suggested that PD patients show disturbances in olfaction as one of the earliest, nonspecific nonmotor symptoms of disease onset. We sought to use the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism to explore olfactory function in LRRK loss-of-function mutants, which was previously demonstrated to be a useful model for PD. Surprisingly, our results showed that the LRRK mutant, compared to the wild flies, presents a dramatic increase in the amplitude of the electroantennogram responses and this is coupled with a higher number of olfactory sensilla. In spite of the above reported results, the behavioural response to olfactory stimuli in mutant flies is impaired compared to that obtained in wild type flies. Thus, behaviour modifications and morphofunctional changes in the olfaction of LRRK loss-of-function mutants might be used as an index to explore the progression of parkinsonism in this specific model, also with the aim of studying and developing new treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Francescaelena
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Rose
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Corda
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8785-1438
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Solari
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Section of Plant Protection, University of Florence, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7006-8516
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sacchetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Section of Plant Protection, University of Florence, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Belcari
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Poddighe
authors.affiliation: Pinnacle Biomedical Research Institute, Bhopal, India.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1132-293X
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kasture
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Clinical and Molecular Medicine, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2982-0665
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Solla
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Clinical and Molecular Medicine, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marrosu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1629-2090
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liscia