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Vilidaite G, Norcia AM, West RJH, Elliott CJH, Pei F, Wade AR, Baker DH. Autism sensory dysfunction in an evolutionarily conserved system. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 285:20182255. [PMID: 30963913 PMCID: PMC6304042 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
There is increasing evidence for a strong genetic basis for autism, with many genetic models being developed in an attempt to replicate autistic symptoms in animals. However, current animal behaviour paradigms rarely match the social and cognitive behaviours exhibited by autistic individuals. Here, we instead assay another functional domain—sensory processing—known to be affected in autism to test a novel genetic autism model in Drosophila melanogaster. We show similar visual response alterations and a similar development trajectory in Nhe3 mutant flies (total n = 72) and in autistic human participants (total n = 154). We report a dissociation between first- and second-order electrophysiological visual responses to steady-state stimulation in adult mutant fruit flies that is strikingly similar to the response pattern in human adults with ASD as well as that of a large sample of neurotypical individuals with high numbers of autistic traits. We explain this as a genetically driven, selective signalling alteration in transient visual dynamics. In contrast to adults, autistic children show a decrease in the first-order response that is matched by the fruit fly model, suggesting that a compensatory change in processing occurs during development. Our results provide the first animal model of autism comprising a differential developmental phenotype in visual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Greta Vilidaite
- 1 Department of Psychology, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305 , USA
| | - Anthony M Norcia
- 1 Department of Psychology, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305 , USA
| | - Ryan J H West
- 3 Department of Biology, University of York , York YO10 5DD , UK
| | | | - Francesca Pei
- 2 Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305 , USA
| | - Alex R Wade
- 3 Department of Biology, University of York , York YO10 5DD , UK.,4 Department of Psychology, University of York , York YO10 5DD , UK
| | - Daniel H Baker
- 4 Department of Psychology, University of York , York YO10 5DD , UK
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Gómez IM, Rodríguez MA, Santalla M, Kassis G, Colman Lerner JE, Aranda JO, Sedán D, Andrinolo D, Valverde CA, Ferrero P. Inhalation of marijuana affects Drosophila heart function. Biol Open 2019; 8:bio.044081. [PMID: 31324618 PMCID: PMC6737967 DOI: 10.1242/bio.044081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigated the effect of inhalation of vaporized marijuana on cardiac function in Drosophila melanogaster, a suitable genetic model for studying human diseases. Adult flies were exposed to marijuana for variable time periods and the effects on cardiac function were studied. Short treatment protocol incremented heart-rate variability. Contractility was augmented only under prolonged exposure to cannabis and it was associated with incremented calcium transient within cardiomyocytes. Neither the activity of the major proteins responsible for calcium handling nor the calcium load of the sarcoplasmic reticulum were affected by the cannabis treatment. The observed changes manifested in the cardiomyocytes even in the absence of the canonical cannabinoid receptors described in mammals. Our results are the first evidence of the in vivo impact of phytocannabinoids in D. melanogaster. By providing a simple and affordable platform prior to mammalian models, this characterization of cardiac function under marijuana exposure opens new paths for conducting genetic screenings using vaporized compounds.This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivana M Gómez
- Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares 'Dr. Horacio E. Cingolani', Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, UNLP, La Plata 1900, Argentina
| | - Maia A Rodríguez
- Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares 'Dr. Horacio E. Cingolani', Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, UNLP, La Plata 1900, Argentina
| | - Manuela Santalla
- Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares 'Dr. Horacio E. Cingolani', Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, UNLP, La Plata 1900, Argentina.,Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Pergamino 2700, Argentina
| | | | - Jorge E Colman Lerner
- Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, CCT La Plata-UNLP-CICPBA, La Plata 1900, Argentina
| | - J Oswaldo Aranda
- Programa Ambiental de Extensión Universitaria. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas-UNLP, La Plata 1900, Argentina
| | - Daniela Sedán
- Centro de Investigaciones del medio Ambiente Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, CCT La Plata-UNLP, La Plata 1900, Argentina
| | - Dario Andrinolo
- Centro de Investigaciones del medio Ambiente Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, CCT La Plata-UNLP, La Plata 1900, Argentina
| | - Carlos A Valverde
- Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares 'Dr. Horacio E. Cingolani', Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, UNLP, La Plata 1900, Argentina
| | - Paola Ferrero
- Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares 'Dr. Horacio E. Cingolani', Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, UNLP, La Plata 1900, Argentina .,Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Pergamino 2700, Argentina
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Balcazar D, Regge V, Santalla M, Meyer H, Paululat A, Mattiazzi A, Ferrero P. SERCA is critical to control the Bowditch effect in the heart. Sci Rep 2018; 8:12447. [PMID: 30127403 PMCID: PMC6102201 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-30638-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2018] [Accepted: 07/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The Bowditch effect or staircase phenomenon is the increment or reduction of contractile force when heart rate increases, defined as either a positive or negative staircase. The healthy and failing human heart both show positive or negative staircase, respectively, but the causes of these distinct cardiac responses are unclear. Different experimental approaches indicate that while the level of Ca2+ in the sarcoplasmic reticulum is critical, the molecular mechanisms are unclear. Here, we demonstrate that Drosophila melanogaster shows a negative staircase which is associated to a slight but significant frequency-dependent acceleration of relaxation (FDAR) at the highest stimulation frequencies tested. We further showed that the type of staircase is oppositely modified by two distinct SERCA mutations. The dominant conditional mutation SERCAA617T induced positive staircase and arrhythmia, while SERCAE442K accentuated the negative staircase of wild type. At the stimulation frequencies tested, no significant FDAR could be appreciated in mutant flies. The present results provide evidence that two individual mutations directly modify the type of staircase occurring within the heart and suggest an important role of SERCA in regulating the Bowditch effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darío Balcazar
- Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares - CONICET/Universidad Nacional de la Plata, La Plata, Argentina
| | - Victoria Regge
- Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares - CONICET/Universidad Nacional de la Plata and Departamento de Ciencias Básicas y Experimentales -UNNOBA, La Plata, Argentina
| | - Manuela Santalla
- Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares - CONICET/Universidad Nacional de la Plata and Departamento de Ciencias Básicas y Experimentales -UNNOBA, La Plata, Argentina
| | - Heiko Meyer
- University of Osnabrück, Biology, Department of Zoology and Developmental Biology, Barbarastraße 11, 49076, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Achim Paululat
- University of Osnabrück, Biology, Department of Zoology and Developmental Biology, Barbarastraße 11, 49076, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Alicia Mattiazzi
- Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares - CONICET/Universidad Nacional de la Plata, La Plata, Argentina
| | - Paola Ferrero
- Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares - CONICET/Universidad Nacional de la Plata and Departamento de Ciencias Básicas y Experimentales -UNNOBA, La Plata, Argentina.
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Twick I, Lee JA, Ramaswami M. Olfactory habituation in Drosophila-odor encoding and its plasticity in the antennal lobe. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2014; 208:3-38. [PMID: 24767477 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-444-63350-7.00001-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
A ubiquitous feature of an animal's response to an odorant is that it declines when the odorant is frequently or continuously encountered. This decline in olfactory response, termed olfactory habituation, can have temporally or mechanistically different forms. The neural circuitry of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster's olfactory system is well defined in terms of component cells, which are readily accessible to functional studies and genetic manipulation. This makes it a particularly useful preparation for the investigation of olfactory habituation. In addition, the insect olfactory system shares many architectural and functional similarities with mammalian olfactory systems, suggesting that olfactory mechanisms in insects may be broadly relevant. In this chapter, we discuss the likely mechanisms of olfactory habituation in context of the participating cell types, their connectivity, and their roles in sensory processing. We overview the structure and function of key cell types, the mechanisms that stimulate them, and how they transduce and process odor signals. We then consider how each stage of olfactory processing could potentially contribute to behavioral habituation. After this, we overview a variety of recent mechanistic studies that point to an important role for potentiation of inhibitory synapses in the primary olfactory processing center, the antennal lobe, in driving the reduced response to familiar odorants. Following the discussion of mechanisms for short- and long-term olfactory habituation, we end by considering how these mechanisms may be regulated by neuromodulators, which likely play key roles in the induction, gating, or suppression of habituated behavior, and speculate on the relevance of these processes for other forms of learning and memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabell Twick
- School of Genetics and Microbiology and School of Natural Sciences, Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
| | - John Anthony Lee
- School of Genetics and Microbiology and School of Natural Sciences, Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
| | - Mani Ramaswami
- School of Genetics and Microbiology and School of Natural Sciences, Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; National Centre for Biological Science, Bangalore, India
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Awofala AA, Davies JA, Jones S. Functional roles for redox genes in ethanol sensitivity in Drosophila. Funct Integr Genomics 2012; 12:305-15. [DOI: 10.1007/s10142-012-0272-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2011] [Revised: 02/23/2012] [Accepted: 02/28/2012] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
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Awofala AA. Drosophila highwire gene modulates acute ethanol sensitivity in the nervous system. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2011. [DOI: 10.1007/s11515-011-1144-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Awofala AA, Jones S, Davies JA. The Heat Shock Protein 26 Gene is Required for Ethanol Tolerance in Drosophila. J Exp Neurosci 2011. [DOI: 10.4137/jen.s6280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Stress plays an important role in drug- and addiction-related behaviours. However, the mechanisms underlying these behavioural responses are still poorly understood. In the light of recent reports that show consistent regulation of many genes encoding stress proteins including heat shock proteins following ethanol exposure in Drosophila, it was hypothesised that transition to alcohol dependence may involve the dysregulation of the circuits that mediate behavioural responses to stressors. Thus, behavioural genetic methodologies were used to investigate the role of the Drosophila hsp26 gene, a small heat shock protein coding gene which is induced in response to various stresses, in the development of rapid tolerance to ethanol sedation. Rapid tolerance was quantified as the percentage difference in the mean sedation times between the second and first ethanol exposure. Two independently isolated P-element mutations near the hsp26 gene eliminated the capacity for tolerance. In addition, RNAi-mediated functional knockdown of hsp26 expression in the glial cells and the whole nervous system also caused a defect in tolerance development. The rapid tolerance phenotype of the hsp26 mutants was rescued by the expression of the wild-type hsp26 gene in the nervous system. None of these manipulations of the hsp26 gene caused changes in the rate of ethanol absorption. Hsp26 genes are evolutionary conserved, thus the role of hsp26 in ethanol tolerance may present a new direction for research into alcohol dependency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Awoyemi A. Awofala
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, United Kingdom
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria
| | - Susan Jones
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, United Kingdom
| | - Jane A. Davies
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, United Kingdom
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Automated measurement of Drosophila jump reflex habituation and its use for mutant screening. J Neurosci Methods 2009; 182:43-8. [PMID: 19520114 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2009.05.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2007] [Revised: 05/07/2009] [Accepted: 05/27/2009] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
In habituation the probability of a behavioral response decreases with repeated presentations of a stimulus. This is a simple kind of learning since it involves an adaptive change in behavior due to experience. The present study describes a high-throughput semi-automated system to track movement of individual flies and score their jump response to repeated presentations of an odor. We find a decreased response on repeated presentations of odor, which a number of criteria suggest to be habituation. Tracking of up to sixteen flies simultaneously allows analysis of large numbers of flies for mutant screens. We demonstrate the use of the Autojump system for large-scale screens by conducting a pilot-scale screen of 150 P insert lines for habituation mutants.
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Chapter 3 Mapping and Manipulating Neural Circuits in the Fly Brain. ADVANCES IN GENETICS 2009; 65:79-143. [DOI: 10.1016/s0065-2660(09)65003-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
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Joiner MA, Asztalos Z, Jones CJ, Tully T, Wu CF. Effects of mutant Drosophila K+ channel subunits on habituation of the olfactory jump response. J Neurogenet 2007; 21:45-58. [PMID: 17464797 PMCID: PMC3045562 DOI: 10.1080/01677060701247375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The olfactory-jump response assay was used to analyze habituation in Drosophila mutants of potassium (K(+)) channel subunits. As with physiological assays of the giant fiber-mediated escape reflex, mutations at loci that encode K(+) channel subunits have distinct effects on habituating the olfactory-jump response. The data for slowpoke and ether à go-go indicate similar effects on habituation of the olfactory-jump response and the giant fiber-mediated escape. Habituation in the olfactory jump assay in Hyperkinetic and Shaker mutants was drastically different from the degree of defect in the giant fiber-mediated escape reflex, indicating differential control mechanisms underlying the two forms of non-associative conditioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- M A Joiner
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
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