Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Commons^™

Characterization Of Vesicular Monoamine Transporter 2 And Its Role In Parkinson's Disease Pathogenesis Using Drosophila, Antonio Joel Tito Jr., Sheng Zhang

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by the selective loss of the dopaminergic neurons in the Substantia nigra pars compacta region of the brain. PD is also the most common neurodegenerative disorder and the second most common movement disorder. PD patients exhibit the cardinal symptoms, including tremor of the extremities, rigidity, slowness of movement, and postural instability, after 70-80% of DA neurons degenerate. It is, therefore, imperative to elucidate the underlying mechanisms involved in the selective degeneration of DA neurons. Although increasing numbers of PD genes have been identified, why these largely widely expressed genes induce …

Cellular And Genetic Bases Of Cold Nociception And Nociceptive Sensitization In Drosophila Larvae, Heather N. Turner

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Organisms from flies to mammals utilize thermoreceptors to detect and respond to noxious thermal stimuli. Although much is understood about noxious heat avoidance, our understanding of the basic biology of noxious cold perception is gravely minimal. Numerous clinical conditions disrupt the sensory machinery, such as in patients suffering from tissue damage (from wound or sunburn), or injury to the peripheral nerves, as in patients with diabetes or undergoing chemotherapy. Our goal is to determine the genetic basis for noxious cold perception and injury-induced nociceptive sensitization using the genetically tractable Drosophila model. Using a novel "cold probe" tool and assay we …

Tnf Signaling During Tissue Damage-Induced Nociceptive Sensitization In Drosophila, Juyeon Jo

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling is required for inflammatory nociceptive sensitization in both Drosophila and vertebrates. In Drosophila larval model of nociceptive sensitization, UV irradiation in results in epidermal apoptosis and thermal allodynia. TNF/Eiger is produced from dying epidermal cells and acts its receptor in nociceptive sensory neurons to induce thermal allodynia. Inhibition of TNF signaling results in attenuation of nociceptive sensitization whereas epidermal apoptosis still occurs in the absence of TNF. Major gaps in this model are the precise relationship between apoptotic cell death and production of TNF/Eiger, downstream signaling mediators for TNFR/Wengen, and target genes that alter nociceptive …

Damage-Induced Inflammation And Nociceptive Hypersensitivity In Drosophila Larvae, Daniel T. Babcock

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Mounting an effective response to tissue damage requires a concerted effort from a number of systems, including both the immune and nervous systems. Immune-responsive blood cells fight infection and clear debris from damaged tissues, and specialized pain receptors become hypersensitive to promote behavior that protects the damaged area while it heals. To uncover the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these processes, we have developed a genetically tractable invertebrate model of damage-induced inflammation and pain hypersensitivity using Drosophila larvae.

To study wound-induced inflammation, we generated transgenic larvae with fluorescent epidermal cells and blood cells (hemocytes). Using live imaging, we monitored the …