Behavioral Senescence and Aging-Related Changes in Motor Neurons and Brain Neuromodulator Levels Are Ameliorated by Lifespan-Extending Reproductive Dormancy in Drosophila

Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
Sifang LiaoDick R Nässel

Abstract

The lifespan of Drosophilamelanogaster can be extended substantially by inducing reproductive dormancy (also known as diapause) by lowered temperature and short days. This increase of longevity is accompanied by lowered metabolism and increased stress tolerance. We ask here whether behavioral senescence is ameliorated during adult dormancy. To study this we kept flies for seven or more weeks in normal rearing conditions or in diapause conditions and compared to 1-week-old flies in different behavioral assays of sleep, negative geotaxis and exploratory walking. We found that the senescence of geotaxis and locomotor behavior seen under normal rearing conditions was negligible in flies kept in dormancy. The normal senescence of rhythmic activity and sleep patterns during the daytime was also reduced by adult dormancy. Investigating the morphology of specific neuromuscular junctions (NMJs), we found that changes normally seen with aging do not take place in dormant flies. To monitor age-associated changes in neuronal circuits regulating activity rhythms, sleep and walking behavior we applied antisera to tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), serotonin and several neuropeptides to examine changes in expression levels and neuron morphology. In m...Continue Reading

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Citations

Oct 1, 2018·The European Journal of Neuroscience·Aliza K De Nobrega, Lisa C Lyons
Feb 27, 2020·Cell Reports·Andrew RallisPascal P Thérond
Nov 11, 2020·Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology·Sifang LiaoDick R Nässel

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
PCR
electron microscopy

Software Mentioned

GraphPad Prism
ImageJ
Ethovision XT
JMP
Excel
BeFLY ! Analysis Tools

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