Efeito de Melatonina em Drosophila melanogaster modelo para doença de Alzheimer

Abstract

Known as a neurodegenerative condition, Alzheimer's disease is associated with age and cognitive and neuropsychiatric manifestations, which result in progressive and disabling disability. The initial symptom of the disease is identified by the progressive loss of recent memory. Studies indicate that individuals with Alzheimer's disease show changes in melatonin production and secretion levels. Melatonin is a neurohormonium (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) produced and secreted by the pineal gland, which is located in the upper third ventricle of the brain, precisely regulated by the circadian cycle and is produced only in the dark. As Alzheimer's disease progresses, the rate of melatonin production and secretion by the human body gradually decreases. A model organism for studying the molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases and assessing their accompanying behaviors is Drosophila melanogaster, popularly known as the fruit fly. Because it is an easy-to-handle, low-cost organism that is easy to grow in the laboratory, its use to understand the events involved in Alzheimer's disease is a very suitable tool. This research aimed to evaluate the effect of melatonin in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, using Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism, and demonstrated that melatonin was not toxic to the fly, thus presenting motor behavior improvement effect when subjected to behavioral testing.