Alcohol sedation in adult Drosophila is regulated by Cysteine proteinase-1 in cortex glia.
Although numerous studies have demonstrated that neuronal mechanisms regulate alcohol-related behaviors, very few have investigated the direct role of glia in behavioral responses to alcohol. The results described here begin to fill this gap in the alcohol behavior and gliobiology fields. Since Drosophila exhibit conserved behavioral responses to alcohol and their CNS glia are similar to mammalian CNS glia, we used Drosophila to begin exploring the role of glia in alcohol behavior. We found that knockdown of Cysteine proteinase-1 (Cp1) in glia increased Drosophila alcohol sedation and that this effect was specific to cortex glia and adulthood. These data implicate Cp1 and cortex glia in alcohol-related behaviors. Cortex glia are functionally homologous to mammalian astrocytes and Cp1 is orthologous to mammalian Cathepsin L. Our studies raise the possibility that cathepsins may influence behavioral responses to alcohol in mammals via roles in astrocytes.
['Lee|Kristen M|KM|0000-0003-4527-6468', 'Mathies|Laura D|LD|', 'Grotewiel|Mike|M|']
D000818:Animals D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified D001253:Astrocytes D001522:Behavior, Animal D002490:Central Nervous System D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases D004330:Drosophila D029721:Drosophila Proteins D000431:Ethanol D005786:Gene Expression Regulation D005838:Genotype D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives D009068:Movement D009457:Neuroglia D009474:Neurons D034622:RNA Interference D019076:Transgenes
Behavioural genetics Glial biology