Browsing by Author "Hidalgo, S."

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    Kanamycin treatment in the pre-symptomatic stage of a Drosophila PD model prevents the onset of non-motor alterations
    (2023) Molina Mateo, Daniela; Valderrama, Benjamín; Zárate, Raffaela; Hidalgo, S.; Tamayo Leiva, Javier; Soto González, Antonia; Guerra Ayala, Simón; Arriagada Vera, Vicente; Oliva, C.; Diez, B.; Campusano, Jorge M.
    Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor alterations, which is preceded by a prodromal stage where non-motor symptoms are observed. Over recent years, it has become evident that this disorder involves other organs that communicate with the brain like the gut. Importantly, the microbial community that lives in the gut plays a key role in this communication, the so-called microbiota-gut-brain axis. Alterations in this axis have been associated to several disorders including PD. Here we proposed that the gut microbiota is different in the presymptomatic stage of a Drosophila model for PD, the Pink1B9 mutant fly, as compared to that observed in control animals. Our results show this is the case: there is basal dysbiosis in mutant animals evidenced by substantial difference in the composition of midgut microbiota in 8–9 days old Pink1B9 mutant flies as compared with control animals. Further, we fed young adult control and mutant flies kanamycin and analyzed motor and non-motor behavioral parameters in these animals. Data show that kanamycin treatment induces the recovery of some of the non-motor parameters altered in the pre-motor stage of the PD fly model, while there is no substantial change in locomotor parameters recorded at this stage. On the other hand, our results show that feeding young animals the antibiotic, results in a long-lasting improvement of locomotion in control flies. Our data support that manipulations of gut microbiota in young animals could have beneficial effects on PD progression and age-dependent motor impairments.
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    Study of the contribution of nicotinic receptors to the release of endogenous biogenic amines in Drosophila brain
    (Humana Press, 2016) Fuenzalida-Uribe, N.; Hidalgo, S.; Varas, R.; Campusano, J.M.
    Biogenic amines (BAs) are a group of molecules that act as neurotransmitters or neuromodulators in key regions of the brain involved in the development and consolidation of behaviors. The deregulation of neural systems containing and releasing BAs has been linked to several neurologic diseases. To understand the signals that modulate aminergic systems in the brain is essential in advancing our comprehension on the contribution of these bioactive molecules to brain normal functioning and pathological events. In our laboratory we use the fly Drosophila melanogaster, an animal model that shows similar mechanisms of neurotransmitter storage, release, and recycling as compared to mammalian systems but with powerful genetic tools, to elucidate the contribution of nicotinic ligands to the regulation of aminergic signaling in the brain. In this chapter we comment on some methodological approaches to tackle this issue, with special emphasis on one of the techniques used in our laboratory, chronoamperometry