Drosophila models for studying iron-related neurodegenerative diseases.
- Author:
Zhou-Jing ZHU
1
;
Ka-Chun WU
;
Zhong-Ming QIAN
;
Wing-Ho YUNG
;
Ya KE
Author Information
1. School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Laboratory of Neuropharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China. yake@cuhk.edu.hk.
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH:
Alzheimer Disease;
physiopathology;
Animals;
Disease Models, Animal;
Drosophila melanogaster;
Friedreich Ataxia;
physiopathology;
Humans;
Iron;
Neurodegenerative Diseases;
physiopathology;
Parkinson Disease;
physiopathology
- From:
Acta Physiologica Sinica
2014;66(1):47-54
- CountryChina
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
In recent years, iron has been regarded as a common pathological feature of many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA). A number of genes involved in iron transport, storage and regulation have been found associated with initiation and progression of neurodegeneration. However, whether iron abnormalities represent a primary or secondary event still remains unknown. Due to the limitation in transgenic rodent model construction and transfection systems, the progress in unraveling the pathogenic role of different iron-related proteins in neurodegenerative diseases has been slow. Drosophila melanogaster, a simple organism which has a shorter lifespan and smaller genome with many conserved genes, and captures many features of human nervous system and neurodegeneration, may help speed up the progress. The characteristics that spatial- and temporal-specific transgenic Drosophila can be easily constructed and raised in large quantity with phenotype easily determined turn Drosophila into an excellent in vivo genetic system for screening iron-related modifiers in different neurodegenerative conditions and hence provide a better picture about the pathogenic contribution of different iron-related protein abnormalities. It is believed that identification of important iron-related genes that can largely stop or even reverse degenerative process in Drosophila models may lead to development of novel therapeutic strategies against neurodegenerative diseases.
