INTRODUCTION: Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurogenerative illness that over 8 million patients in the world struggle with and only few percent of these cases have a known cause – meanwhile an effective therapy that stops the progress of symptoms does not exist. PD starts with degeneration of dopaminergic cells in the midbrain but in recent years it has been found that the mortality of these neurons drops significantly when they also display glutamatergic transmission. The neuroprotective properties of VgluT2 are theorized but the significance of dopamine (DA) in the overall role of these cells has still not been determined. In this study we examined the role of DA in glutamatergic cells of Drosophila melanogaster with the use of climbing and survival assays, as well as analysis of circadian and sleep cycles in males of vGlut>pleRNAi strain, which has silenced the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase specifically in glutamatergic cells.

AIM(S): Determination of the significance of DA in the glutamatergic cells in Drosophila melanogaster brain.

METHOD(S): Flies kept in 12:12h light to dark conditions from vGlut>pleRNAi and control: vGlut-Gal4/+ and UAS-pleRNAi/+ strains underwent survival and climbing assays as well as monitoring of sleep rhythm and daily activity with the use of DAM system.

RESULTS: We have found that the survival of flies lacking DA expression in glutamatergic neurons was significantly decreased, compared with controls. The period of circadian locomotor activity was not affected, but the DA lacking flies showed longer and more frequent bouts of sleep throughout the day.

CONCLUSIONS: DA in glutamatergic neurons of Dorosphila melanogaster plays a role in the overall motor ability of the animal and its’ overall fitness.