Decreased Cerebral Irp ‐1B Limits Impact of Social Isolation in Wildtype and Alzheimer's Disease Modelled in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract Environmental factors, such as housing conditions and cognitively stimulating activities, have been shown to affect behavioral phenotypes and to modulate neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting cognitive functions. Epidemiological evidence and experimental studies using rodent models have indicated that social interaction reduces development and progression of disease. Drosophila models of Aβ42‐associated AD lead to AD‐like phenotypes, such as long‐term memory impairment, locomotor and survival deficits, while effects of environmental conditions on AD associated phenotypes have not been assessed in the fly. Here we show that single housing reduced survival and motor performance of Aβ42 expressing and control flies. Gene expression analyses of Aβ42 expressing and control flies that had been exposed to different housing conditions revealed upregulation of Iron regulatory protein 1B (Irp‐1B) in fly brains following single housing. Down‐regulating Irp‐1B in neurons of single‐housed Aβ42 expressing and control flies rescued both survival and motor performance deficits. Thus, we provide novel evidence that increased cerebral expression of Irp‐1B may underlie worsened behavioral outcome in socially deprived flies and can additionally modulate AD‐like phenotypes.
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research