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Transmission Electron Microscopy Methods for Understanding the Brain pp 105–123Cite as

Electron Microscopy of the Brains of Drosophila Models of Alzheimer’s Diseases

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Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 115))

Abstract

The fruit fly Drosophila is widely used as a genetic model organism and recently emerged as a powerful system in which to study human diseases. We established fly models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by expressing AD-associated β-amyloid peptides or microtubule-associated protein tau in the fly brain. Electron microscopy (EM) is an essential tool used to diagnose and categorize human diseases and to evaluate whether transgenic models recapitulate pathological phenotypes. We employed EM analyses to gain an understanding of the pathological effects of expressing Aβ or tau on the ultrastructure of the brain and to localize β-amyloid within subcellular organelles. These analyses revealed that several critical pathologies observed in the brains of patients with AD are recapitulated in these fly models of the disease.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Health [R01AG032279] and [U01AG046170] to K.A. and K.M.I., the Alzheimer’s Association NIRG-10-173189 to K.A. and NIRG-08-91985 to K.M.I., the start-up funds from Tokyo Metropolitan University (to K.A.), Takeda Science Foundation, Japan (to K.M.I.), and Research Grant for Longevity Science 25-27, Japan (to K.M.I.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Kanae Ando & Akiko Maruko-Otake

  2. Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan

    Kanae Ando

  3. St. Giles Foundation Advanced Microscopy Center, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA

    Stephen Hearn

  4. Laboratory of Gene Network, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan

    Emiko Suzuki

  5. Laboratory of Genetics and Pathobiology, Department of Alzheimer’s Disease Research, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, 7-430 Morioka-Machi, Obu, Aichi, Japan

    Michiko Sekiya & Koichi M. Iijima

  6. Department of Genetics, SOKENDAI, Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan

    Emiko Suzuki

Authors
  1. Kanae Ando
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  2. Stephen Hearn
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  3. Emiko Suzuki
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  4. Akiko Maruko-Otake
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  5. Michiko Sekiya
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  6. Koichi M. Iijima
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kanae Ando or Koichi M. Iijima .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology and Physiolog, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Elisabeth J. Van Bockstaele

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Ando, K., Hearn, S., Suzuki, E., Maruko-Otake, A., Sekiya, M., Iijima, K.M. (2015). Electron Microscopy of the Brains of Drosophila Models of Alzheimer’s Diseases. In: Van Bockstaele, E. (eds) Transmission Electron Microscopy Methods for Understanding the Brain. Neuromethods, vol 115. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/7657_2015_75

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7657_2015_75

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-3638-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-3640-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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