INTRODUCTION: Artificial light at night caused by streetlamps and man-made light is called light pollution. It’s detrimental to our health, since organisms are not adapted to constant light exposure. Numerous studies have shown that cell death is enhanced after long term exposure to bright light, which is especially dangerous for patients with age-related diseases, like Parkinson’s disease (PD). In PD patients retina undergoes neurodegeneration well before the onset of typical symptoms, resulting in their increased sensitivity to light pollution, which can contribute to worsening their symptoms. The Parkinson’s disease is less prevalent in females, which indicates presence of differences in its development between the sexes. In this study we investigated the influence of different light conditions on survival of male and female PD model Drosophila melanogaster.

AIM(S): Determination of the sex differences in survival of PD model flies exposed to different light conditions.

METHOD(S): We performed survival assays on males and females of Drosophila melanogaster with park homozygous mutation under different light conditions: Light:Dark 12h:12h (LD); constant darkness (DD); Light:Dim Light 12h:12h (L-dim) and Light:Blue:Darkness 12:1:11 (LBD). Wild type flies Canton S and white (genetic background of the park mutant flies;) strains were tested in the same conditions as a control.

RESULTS: Flies kept in constant light conditions exhibited the shortest lifespan. However, we did not observe changes in wild type females under these conditions. Surprisingly, LBD conditions had pro-survival effect on wild type flies, while in park mutants it was age-related.

CONCLUSIONS: Female flies of all strains were less affected by light pollution than males and the constant exposure to light was the most detrimental for flies’ survival. In addition, PD model flies were more sensitive to ALAN than controls.