Parkinson’s Disease Model in vitro and in C. elegans

Abstract

Current treatments of Parkinson’s Disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disease affecting voluntary movement, do not target the underlying pathology, focussing on the symptoms instead. The focus of this study was the usage of a protein involved in the earliest known pathology of PD, αsynuclein (αsyn), to conduct preliminary experiments that could determine potential treatments that affect aggregation of αsyn. First, aggregation of αsyn was measured using a commonly used assay for detecting protein aggregation, thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence assay. Second, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), nematodes more recently used as a lowcost model for diseases, were treated with αsyn (transgenic species were used overexpressing αsyn in muscle cells and C. elegans were also exogenously exposed to αsyn) and observed for any behavioural changes in movement and bend speed. Treating αsyn with hops, an ingredient used in brewing beer, showed a 53fold reduction in fluorescence in the ThT assays performed. The mechanism in which hops was affecting ThT fluorescence was unclear but the effect, regardless, demonstrates its potential use as a treatment and warrants further study on its effects on αsyn aggregation. C. elegans overexpressing αsyn and exogenously exposed to αsyn showed changes in movement speed compared to untreated populations and this study found that exposure to hops reversed the changes in speed possibly caused by αsyn.