IIBBA   05544
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES BIOQUIMICAS DE BUENOS AIRES
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Role of ENA/VASP in the adult brain of Drosophila melanogaster
Autor/es:
FRANCO, DL; CERIANI, MF
Lugar:
Huerta Grande
Reunión:
Congreso; XXVII Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias; 2011
Institución organizadora:
Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias
Resumen:
Neuronal polarity is essential for input/output processing and appropriate flow of information in neuronal networks (Sanchez-Soriano et al., 2007). The polarized morphology of neurons is maintained and dynamically modified by microtubules and the actin cytoskeleton during brain development (Conde and Caceres, 2009). Among actin regulatory proteins, ENA/VASP is a conserved family which is critical for filopodia formation and elongation. In a previous work we showed that ENA/VASP downregulation in culture of mouse hippocampal neurons generate axonal retraction, which subsequently induces neuronal death through an apoptotic mechanism (Franco et al., 2010). To further characterize the mechanism of axonal retraction triggered by ena in vivo we downregulated the expression of ena in the circadian circuit of adult brain of Drosophila. Preliminary results indicate that reducing ena levels leads to axonal retraction and decrease the number of active zones within the circadian circuit. Taking in account these results we will further evaluate synaptic activity on these neurons and the behavioral phenotype induced after down-regulating ena levels in the circadian circuit.