We thank Leo Pallanck for fly stocks, Christine Sommers for technical assistance and Gerasimos P. Sykiotis for helpful discussions. This work was funded by the NIH training grant T32CA009363 to M.C.B.

1. Startle-induced Negative Geotaxis Assay
<ol>
 <li>Select flies of the desired genotype, separate them by gender, randomly group them in cohorts of 20-30 animals and flip them into new food vials every 2-3 days; test each set of flies (i.e. age-matched cohorts, one cohort/genotype) at least once a week.</li>
 <li>Thirty minutes before the negative geotaxis test, anesthetize the flies with CO2 and place them in pre-labeled clear plastic tubes made with two empty food vials (see Materials Ta...

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We declare that we have no competing financial interests.

The assays described here provide a useful approach to study the role of specific genes, signaling pathways or small compounds in the maintenance of DA neurons in aging as well as in different disease-linked genetic backgrounds (reviewed in 5).
The startle-induced negative geotaxis behavior of Drosophila has been extensively used as a functional read-out for the functionality of DA neurons in different genetic backgrounds, particularly in the presence of PD-linked mutation...

The specificity of the assays described here relies on the use of a Gal4 fly line which exploits the regulatory sequences of the tyrosine hydroxylase gene to achieve specific expression in dopaminergic neurons 3. Tyrosine hydroxylase catalyses the first and rate-limiting step in dopamine synthesis. TH immunoreactivity in the adult fly brain overlaps with that of dopamine, making TH a good candidate to identify DA neurons in vivo (see for example 6). Moreover, the expression pattern of THGal4 is more specific than that of other Gal4 lines such as DdcGal4, which contains regulatory sequences from the dopa decarboxylase gene and drives transgenic expression not only in DA neurons, but also in serotoninergic neurons and subsets of glial cells 3.
Feany and Bender (2000) first observed that pan-neuronal expression of the PD-linked human &alpha;-synuclein gene accelerates the progressive loss of startle-induced negative geotaxis behavior in Drosophila. We have observed similar results using the DA-neuron specific THGal4 line to drive the expressionof an &alpha;-synuclein transgene 10 and used this functional read-out to study the neuroprotective role of the Nrf2 pathway in this Drosophila model of PD 14. The specific assay described here is adapted from 2 and 3.
The Drosophila brain contains more than 100 DA neurons, arranged in at least 5 different clusters (PPL1, PPL2, PAL, PPM1/2, PPM3) which can be visualized in whole brain mounts by confocal microscopy (see for example 11 and 7). It is still controversial whether or not the number of DA neurons in the Drosophila brain declines with age 9, 11; however, age-dependent neurodegeneration is observed in flies where PD-linked genes have been mutated/overexpressed to model human diseases 5. The expression of human &alpha;-synuclein in DA neurons has such an effect and, hence, has been used as a model for PD. Here we describe an assay for DA neurons count in whole brain mounts using TH as a cell marker. This assay has been adapted from 13 and 10.

<table border="1">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Name </td>
			<td>Company</td>
			<td>Catalogue number</td>
			<td>Comments (optional)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Rabbit anti-tyrosine hydroxylase antibody</td>
			<td>Millipore</td>
			<td>AB152</td>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Donkey TRITC-labeled anti rabbit IgG antibody</td>
			<td>Jackson ImmunoResearch</td>
			<td>711-026-152</td>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Mowiol</td>
			<td>Calbiochem</td>
			<td>475904</td>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DABCO</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>D2522</td>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
			<td>Equipment</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Polystyrene vials</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>89092-734</td>
			<td>28.5 x 95 mm</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Digital camera</td>
			<td>Canon</td>
			<td>PowerShot A3100IS (model)</td>
			<td>12.1 Megapixels 4X Optical Zoom</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glass coverslips no. 1.5</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>48366 205 48393 252</td>
			<td>Sizes: 18 x 18 mm, 24 x 60 mm</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glass coverslips no. 2</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>48368-040</td>
			<td>Size: 18 x 18 mm</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dissection dishes</td>
			<td>Electron Microscopy Sciences</td>
			<td>70543-01</td>
			<td>Size: 30 mm O.D.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dumostar No. 5 tweezers</td>
			<td>Electron Microscopy Sciences</td>
			<td>72705-01</td>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Stereomicroscope</td>
			<td>Carl Zeiss</td>
			<td>Stemi 2000 (model)</td>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Confocal microscope</td>
			<td>Leica</td>
			<td>SP2 or SP5 (model)</td>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>
Materials Table.

assessing neurodegenerative phenotypes in drosophila dopaminergic neurons by climbing assays and whole brain immunostaining

Drosophila melanogaster is a valuable model organism to study aging and pathological degenerative processes in the nervous system. The advantages of the fly as an experimental system include its genetic tractability, short life span and the possibility to observe and quantitatively analyze complex behaviors. The expression of disease-linked genes in specific neuronal populations of the Drosophila brain, can be used to model human neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's 5.
Dopaminergic (DA) neurons are among the most vulnerable neuronal populations in the aging human brain. In Parkinson's disease (PD), the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder, the accelerated loss of DA neurons leads to a progressive and irreversible decline in locomotor function. In addition to age and exposure to environmental toxins, loss of DA neurons is exacerbated by specific mutations in the coding or promoter regions of several genes. The identification of such PD-associated alleles provides the experimental basis for the use of Drosophila as a model to study neurodegeneration of DA neurons in vivo. For example, the expression of the PD-linked human &alpha;-synuclein gene in Drosophila DA neurons recapitulates some features of the human disease, e.g. progressive loss of DA neurons and declining locomotor function 2. Accordingly, this model has been successfully used to identify potential therapeutic targets in PD 8.
Here we describe two assays that have commonly been used to study age-dependent neurodegeneration of DA neurons in Drosophila: a climbing assay based on the startle-induced negative geotaxis response and tyrosine hydroxylase immunostaining of whole adult brain mounts to monitor the number of DA neurons at different ages. In both cases, in vivo expression of UAS transgenes specifically in DA neurons can be achieved by using a tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) promoter-Gal4 driver line 3, 10.

We have used the assays described here to study the role of the stress protective Nrf2 pathway in a Drosophila model of PD 14. This model relies on the expression of the human &alpha;-synuclein gene in DA neurons using a TH Gal4 driver 2, 10.
Figure 1 shows a representative result of a startle-induced negative geotaxis (climbing) assay in male flies expressing different transgenes under the control of the TH Gal4 driver. All the genotypes tested ...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Assessing Neurodegenerative Phenotypes in Drosophila Dopaminergic Neurons by Climbing Assays and Whole Brain Immunostaining at JoVE.com

Assessing Neurodegenerative Phenotypes in Drosophila Dopaminergic Neurons by Climbing Assays and Whole Brain Immunostaining

Here we describe two assays that have been established to study age-dependent neurodegeneration of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in Drosophila: the climbing/startle-induced negative geotaxis assay which allows to study the functional effects of DA neurons degeneration and the tyrosine hydroxylase immunostaining which is used to identify and count DA neurons in whole brain mounts.

Assessing Neurodegenerative Phenotypes in Drosophila Dopaminergic Neurons by Climbing Assays and Whole Brain Immunostaining

Drosophila melanogaster is a valuable model organism to study aging and pathological degenerative processes in the nervous system. The advantages of the ...

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Neuroscience

19.0K visualizações.  University of Rochester Medical Center. Aqui nós descrevemos dois ensaios que foram estabelecidos para estudar neurodegeneração idade-dependente de dopaminérgicos (DA) neurônios Drosophila: A escalada / ensaio geotaxis negativa induzida sobressalto que permite estudar os efeitos funcionais de neurónios DA degeneração e a imunomarcação de tirosina-hidroxilase, que é usado para identificar e contar os neurónios do cérebro de DA em montagens inteiras.