Response to stress inDrosophilais mediated by gender, age and stress paradigm

Abstract

All living organisms must maintain equilibrium in response to internal and external challenges within their environment. Changes in neural plasticity (alterations in neuronal populations, dendritic remodeling, and synaptic turnover) are critical components of the homeostatic response to stress, which has been strongly implicated in the onset of affective disorders. However, stress is differentially perceived depending on the type of stress and its context, as well as genetic background, age and sex; therefore, an individual’s maintenance of neuronal homeostasis must differ depending upon these variables. We established Drosophila as a model to analyze homeostatic responses to stress. Sexually immature and mature females and males from an isogenic wild-type strain raised under controlled environmental conditions were exposed to four reproducible and high-throughput translatable stressors to facilitate the analysis of a large number of animals for direct comparisons. These animals were assessed in an open-field arena, in a Light-Dark Box, and in a Forced Swim Test, as well as for sensitivity to the sedative effects of ethanol. These studies establish that immature and mature females and males represent behaviorally distinct populations under control conditions as well as after exposure to different stressors. Therefore, the neural substrates mediating the stress response must be differentially expressed depending upon the hormonal status of the brain. In addition, an adaptive response to a given stressor in one paradigm was not predictive for outcomes in other paradigms.

Loss of p21-activated kinase Mbt/PAK4 causes Parkinson-like phenotypes inDrosophila

“…In addition to anxiety, depression is one of the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms of PD ( Chaudhuri et al, 2006 ; Goodarzi et al, 2016 ). To investigate depression-like behavior in the fly, the FST was used in a previous study ( Neckameyer and Nieto-Romero, 2015 ). Similar to rodents, higher immobility values in this assay were interpreted either as lesser capability in stress coping, negative mood or a more depressive-like behavior ( Commons et al, 2017 ; Molendijk and de Kloet, 2019 ; Petit-Demouliere et al, 2005 ).…”

“…Similar to rodents, higher immobility values in this assay were interpreted either as lesser capability in stress coping, negative mood or a more depressive-like behavior ( Commons et al, 2017 ; Molendijk and de Kloet, 2019 ; Petit-Demouliere et al, 2005 ). Regarding PD, further evidence for the FST as a suitable assay came from the observation that exposure to paraquat (a PD-inducing toxin) increases immobility values both in flies and in mice ( Neckameyer and Nieto-Romero, 2015 ; Rudyk et al, 2019 ). To address the question how mbt P1 flies react in a stress situation, we measured the time flies were immobile during FST.…”

Adult crowding induces sexual dimorphism in chronic stress-response inDrosophila melanogaster

“…Furthermore, it is known that males and females can respond differently to drugs used for treating SIMDs (reviewed in Frackiewicz et al, 2000). Curiously though, in spite of this, how sex affects SIMDs has remained relatively less investigated in both vertebrate (see Palanza and Parmigiani, 2017 for a discussion) and invertebrate model systems (however, see Neckameyer and Matsuo, 2008; Neckameyer and Nieto-Romero, 2015)…”

“…Apart from the abiotic components mentioned above, the social environment of a species can also act as a potential source of stress (Palanza, 2001). For example, social isolation for 24-hours in fruit flies has been shown to reduce the number of transitions in a light-dark box, regardless of the age and sex of the fly, thus suggesting a negative impact of this acute stressor on exploratory behaviour (Neckameyer and Nieto-Romero, 2015). Adult crowding for 3 days has been shown to reduce both mortality during crowding and post-stress fecundity in fruit flies (Joshi et al, 1998).…”

Absence of Stress Response in Dorsal Raphe Nucleus in Modulator of Apoptosis 1-Deficient Mice

“…With this background, we thus hypothesize, by association, that MOAP-1 −/− mice, like BAX −/− mice, may display stress-related behavioral differences and perhaps involved in stress responses in the brain. Stress responsiveness is also known to be plastic and may vary within individuals in an adaptive manner and this within-individual plasticity may explain age-related decrease in stress response [24, 25]. Therefore, we are interested to investigate if MOAP-1 plays a role in behavioral responses in a number of different acute stress paradigms using MOAP-1 −/− mice and, if so, whether or not it is age related.…”