A Drosophila model for developmental nicotine exposure.

Autor: Velazquez-Ulloa NA; Biology Department, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2017 May 12; Vol. 12 (5), pp. e0177710. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 May 12 (Print Publication: 2017).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177710
Abstrakt: Despite the known health risks of tobacco smoking, many people including pregnant women continue smoking. The effects of developmental nicotine exposure are known, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Drosophila melanogaster is a model organism that can be used for uncovering genetic and molecular mechanisms for drugs of abuse. Here I show that Drosophila can be a model to elucidate the mechanisms for nicotine's effects on a developing organism. Drosophila reared on nicotine food display developmental and behavioral effects similar to those in mammals including decreased survival and weight, increased developmental time, and decreased sensitivity to acute nicotine and ethanol. The Drosophila nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit alpha 7 (Dα7) mediates some of these effects. A novel role for Dα7 on ethanol sedation in Drosophila is also shown. Future research taking advantage of the genetic and molecular tools for Drosophila will allow additional discovery of the mechanisms behind the effects of nicotine during development.
Databáze: MEDLINE