Respiratory Effects of hTau Overexpression in Drosophila melanogaster Astrocytes

Abstract

Difficulty breathing is a common symptom reported among patients with Alzheimer’s disease. A number of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s involve insoluble aggregates of the microtubule-associated protein, tau. Due to the association between neurodegeneration and changes in respiration, there is more to uncover about these respiratory processes within the brain and how the protein tau affects respiration at the cellular level. This project will use the Drosophila melanogaster model animal, which possesses a tubular respiratory system called the trachea. Previous observation has shown that astrocytes associate closely with the trachea. In addition, it has been shown that mammalian astrocytes directly control cerebral capillary blood flow. This project aims to determine the potential for astrocytes to modulate the brain’s respiratory process within the fruit fly by observing changes to respiration rate when human Tau (hTau) is overexpressed in astrocytes. This project’s goal is to further the knowledge of how tauopathies like Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases affect the metabolic processes at the cellular level