Hodges, TravisMarkley, MichelleColodner, KenNewman, Birdy2025-07-152025-07-152025-07-15https://hdl.handle.net/10166/6773Tauopathies, neurodegenerative disorders exhibiting symptoms such as dementia and motor deficits, are characterized by pathological aggregates of a microtubule-associated protein called tau. While prior research has focused largely on the ramifications of neuronal tau pathology, tau pathology also affects glial cells, a diverse group of non-neuronal cells that play key roles in the nervous system. Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) have been used to effectively model glial tauopathy. However, the specific effect of tau expression on subperineurial glia (SPG), a glial cell subtype involved in the fly’s blood-brain barrier and sleep patterns, remained unknown. This study transgenically expressed human tau in SPG to investigate how the presence of human tau affects SPG nuclear quantity and morphology in the fly brain. Tau was found to decrease the number of SPG nuclei in young male flies and decrease SPG nuclear sphericity in general. The newfound age- and sex-dependent toxicity of human tau to Drosophila SPG contributes to the growing base of knowledge about glial tauopathy that will lay the foundation for innovative tauopathy treatments.en-USTauNeurodegenerationTauopathyAlzheimer'sDrosophilaGliaThesispublic