Qiu Shuang, Xiao Chengfeng, Robertson R Meldrum
Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6.
PLoS One. 2016 Sep 29;11(9):e0163976. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163976. eCollection 2016.
There is considerable interest in the therapeutic benefits of long-term sensory stimulation for improving cognitive abilities and motor performance of stroke patients. The rationale is that such stimulation would activate mechanisms of neural plasticity to promote enhanced coordination and associated circuit functions. Experimental approaches to characterize such mechanisms are needed. Drosophila melanogaster is one of the most attractive model organisms to investigate neural mechanisms responsible for stimulation-induced behaviors with its powerful accessibility to genetic analysis. In this study, the effect of chronic sensory stimulation (pulsed light stimulation) on motor activity in w1118 flies was investigated. Flies were exposed to a chronic pulsed light stimulation protocol prior to testing their performance in a standard locomotion assay. Flies responded to pulsed light stimulation with increased boundary preference and travel distance in a circular arena. In addition, pulsed light stimulation increased the power of extracellular electrical activity, leading to the enhancement of periodic electrical activity which was associated with a centrally-generated motor pattern (struggling behavior). In contrast, such periodic events were largely missing in w1118 flies without pulsed light treatment. These data suggest that the sensory stimulation induced a response in motor activity associated with the modifications of electrical activity in the central nervous system (CNS). Finally, without pulsed light treatment, the wild-type genetic background was associated with the occurrence of the periodic activity in wild-type Canton S (CS) flies, and w+ modulated the consistency of periodicity. We conclude that pulsed light stimulation modifies behavioral and electrophysiological activities in w1118 flies. These data provide a foundation for future research on the genetic mechanisms of neural plasticity underlying such behavioral modification.
长期感觉刺激对改善中风患者认知能力和运动表现的治疗益处引发了广泛关注。其基本原理是，这种刺激会激活神经可塑性机制，以促进协调性增强和相关回路功能。需要采用实验方法来表征此类机制。黑腹果蝇是研究负责刺激诱导行为的神经机制最具吸引力的模式生物之一，因为它便于进行强大的遗传分析。在本研究中，研究了慢性感觉刺激（脉冲光刺激）对w1118果蝇运动活动的影响。在标准运动测定中测试果蝇表现之前，使其暴露于慢性脉冲光刺激方案。果蝇在圆形竞技场中对脉冲光刺激的反应是边界偏好增加和行进距离增加。此外，脉冲光刺激增加了细胞外电活动的功率，导致与中枢产生的运动模式（挣扎行为）相关的周期性电活动增强。相比之下，未经脉冲光处理的w1118果蝇中基本上没有此类周期性事件。这些数据表明，感觉刺激在运动活动中诱导了一种反应，这种反应与中枢神经系统（CNS）电活动的改变有关。最后，在未经脉冲光处理的情况下，野生型遗传背景与野生型广东S（CS）果蝇中周期性活动的发生有关，并且w +调节了周期性的一致性。我们得出结论，脉冲光刺激改变了w1118果蝇的行为和电生理活动。这些数据为未来研究此类行为改变背后神经可塑性的遗传机制奠定了基础。
