Vos Melissa, Kanana Yuliia, Klein Christine
Institute of Neurogenetics, University of Luebeck and University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein;
Institute of Neurogenetics, University of Luebeck and University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein.
J Vis Exp. 2025 Jul 11(221). doi: 10.3791/68325.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative motor disorder and is frequently accompanied by several non-motor symptoms. Among the latter, gastrointestinal problems, including constipation, often emerge years before the manifestation of locomotion difficulties and before a diagnosis of PD is established. A recent study proposed a method to measure constipation in a PD fly model that expresses wild-type human alpha-synuclein. In this study, we examined the feasibility of this method and tested whether other genetic fly PD models equally result in constipation. Available fly lines were used to measure the constipation level in autosomal dominant and recessive PD models, including three different mutant human alpha-synuclein-expressing Drosophila lines and Pink1- and Parkin-deficient flies. These flies and their corresponding controls were placed on blue-colored food one day before the experiment to induce blue fecal spots. On the day of the experiment, these flies were transferred to standard cornmeal. The percentage of blue fecal spots to total fecal spots was recorded and calculated every 90 min. The different fly PD models show slower or incomplete expulsion of blue-colored food compared to their respective control flies. Hence, a previously proposed method to measure constipation was validated and applied to various fly models of different forms of genetic PD.
帕金森病（PD）是一种常见的神经退行性运动障碍，常伴有多种非运动症状。在这些非运动症状中，包括便秘在内的胃肠道问题往往在运动困难出现之前数年，以及在确诊PD之前就已出现。最近的一项研究提出了一种在表达野生型人类α-突触核蛋白的PD果蝇模型中测量便秘的方法。在本研究中，我们检验了该方法的可行性，并测试了其他遗传性果蝇PD模型是否同样会导致便秘。利用现有的果蝇品系来测量常染色体显性和隐性PD模型中的便秘程度，包括三种不同的表达突变型人类α-突触核蛋白的果蝇品系以及Pink1和Parkin缺陷型果蝇。在实验前一天，将这些果蝇及其相应的对照置于蓝色食物上，以诱导产生蓝色粪便斑点。在实验当天，将这些果蝇转移到标准玉米粉上。每90分钟记录并计算蓝色粪便斑点占总粪便斑点的百分比。与各自的对照果蝇相比，不同的果蝇PD模型显示出蓝色食物排出较慢或不完全。因此，一种先前提出的测量便秘的方法得到了验证，并应用于不同形式遗传性PD的各种果蝇模型。
