Disorders of the Nervous System
Author: Azul Denise Galo | Email: azu.galo@gmail.com
Azul Galo 1°4°, Vinicius Bongiovanni 1°, Lucas Dimotta 1°, Pablo Bochicchio 2°, Maximiliano Katz 1°3°
1° Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay (IFIBIO), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires
2° Instituto de Fisiología y Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires
3° Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)
4° Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Favaloro
Anxiety disorders are a group of conditions that negatively affect quality of life. They can manifest in different ways and intensities and are characterized by a variety of neuroendocrine and neurotransmitter abnormalities. Recent studies have reported that inhibition of the serotonergic pathway in the fruit fly causes anxiety-like phenotypes, similar to what occurs in mammalian models. Serotonin controls diverse biological functions in animals, such as sleep, eating habits, and locomotion, among others. Previous research has reported a link between the Drosophila serotonin receptor 5HT1B and anxiety-like phenotypes, observed as changes in the locomotion pattern during an open-field test. This work opens doors for Drosophila as a model for the study of the pathways related to anxiety disorders and the physiological consequences derived from their misregulation, from a genetic and cellular point of view. In this work, we will genetically manipulate the serotonergic pathway in order to model an anxious phenotype, and we will evaluate the locomotive impact in both control and stress conditions.