CIC   05421
CENTRO DE INVESTIGACIONES CARDIOVASCULARES "DR. HORACIO EUGENIO CINGOLANI"
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Drosophila melanogaster as a Model for Screening of Cannabis Strains and Purified Compounds.
Autor/es:
GÓMEZ IM; COLMAN LERNER JE; SANTALLA M; ANDRINOLO D; SEDÁN D; FERRERO PV; RODRÍGUEZ MA; ARANDA JO; VALVERDE CA
Lugar:
Londres
Reunión:
Congreso; The International Congress on Clinical Trials in Cannabis; 2019
Resumen:
Background: Drosophila melanogaster has been used for research for a long time. Gene-editing and strategies for ectopic gene expression control turn this animal into a feasible model for studying various phenotypes of human diseases (i.e. Parkinson and epilepsy). It has been described the presence of endocannabinoids in the fruit fly´s hemolymph. In addition, endocannabinoids from invertebrates are associated with immunological mechanisms. Herein, we provide a simple, affordable platform prior to mammalian models, opening a new path for conducting genetic screenings using vaporized compounds.Objective: To study the effect of inhalation of vaporized marijuana on survival, behavior, cardiac function and calcium handling in healthy Drosophila individuals.Methods: Wild-type Canton-S adult flies were exposed to marijuana vapor for varying time periods. We carried out the study of survival/mortality. Cardiac function was assessed in semi-intact heart preparations using a fluorescent reporter system expressed in cardiomyocytes and pericardial cells.Results: Marijuana long-term treatment did not alter the survival of adult flies. Behavior evaluation indicated that flies administrated with cannabis, crowded more frequently close to the top of the vial than flies receiving air. Chronic short-term treatment incremented heart-rate variability. Contractility was augmented only after prolonged exposure to cannabis and it was associated with enhanced cardiomyocytes´ calcium transient. However, the activity of the main calcium-handling proteins and the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium load were not affected by cannabis treatment.Conclusion: In view of our observations, marijuana short-term exposure showed a detrimental arrhythmic behavior of heart activity, meanwhile prolonged exposure exerted an incremented contractility. This long-term adaptive mechanism might be responsible for re-establishing a proper heart performance. Our results provide the first evidence of cardiac responsiveness to vaporized cannabinoids in Drosophila highlighting the fruit fly as a useful, low-cost and high-performance model for future tests of cardiac phenotypes induced by phytocannabinoids.