Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury on Astrocytic Tau Pathology in Drosophila melanogaster

Simple item page
dc.contributorWhite, André
dc.contributorLijek, Rebeccah
dc.contributor.advisorColodner, Kenneth
dc.contributor.authorLewis, Caroline
dc.date.accessioned2023-06-28T13:52:23Z
dc.date.available2023-06-28T13:52:23Z
dc.date.gradyear2023en_US
dc.date.issued2023-06-28
dc.description.abstractThe protein tau is involved in the pathology of neurodegeneration through development into aggregates by abnormal hyperphosphorylation events. Tau is mostly expressed in neurons, but tau pathology in glial cells is seen as a hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is known to enhance this formation of tau aggregates and relative toxicity from its expression in neurons and glia. While there are emerging discoveries surrounding the relationship between tau and TBI, the time point/exposure level in which TBI can incite robust aggregation and toxicity has not been explored in a cell-type specific disease model. In this study, we used Drosophila melanogaster as a model of tau overexpression in astrocytes, a major glial cell of the brain. We then exposed flies to various amounts of TBI at various time points within their lifespan. We found that there was no difference in the presence of tau aggregates at day 10, but there was a significantly higher mortality index at the same time point in flies that were hit on four of the 10 days compared to flies hit on day 9 and flies that were not hit at all. We found that flies hit on day 9 had significantly higher tau pathology at day 30 than flies hit later in life. Additionally, we saw that the females hit day 9 had significantly higher tau pathology at day 30 compared to males with the same TBI exposure. We also saw a decreased lifespan up to day 60 in flies hit multiple times compared to hit once or not at all. These data suggests that toxicity is not linked to aggregate presence, and the tau toxicity associated with the increase in mortality for flies who experienced multiple hits should be explored.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNeuroscience and Behavioren_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10166/6432
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rights.restrictedpublicen_US
dc.subjectTraumatic Brain Injuryen_US
dc.subjectTauen_US
dc.subjectNeurodegenerationen_US
dc.subjectAstrocytesen_US
dc.subjectDrosophila melanogasteren_US
dc.titleImpact of Traumatic Brain Injury on Astrocytic Tau Pathology in Drosophila melanogasteren_US
dc.typeThesis
mhc.degreeUndergraduateen_US
mhc.institutionMount Holyoke College

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Carrie-Lewis_Thesis_LITS-version.pdf
Size:
1.96 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download

Collections

Student Theses and Honors Collection