Figure 4. Glial ablation in adult Drosophila results in neuronal apoptosis.

(A) Glial cell death was induced in transgenic flies by expressing Reaper for 10 days in adult flies (UAS–reaper/tub–GAL80^ts;repo–GAL4/+. Double-label immunofluorescence and TUNEL staining on brain sections. Colocalization of the glial-specific protein repo and the neuronal-specific protein elav (red) with TUNEL-positive nuclei (green) reveals the presence of apoptotic glial and neuronal nuclei (arrows). (B) Double-label immunofluorescence and TUNEL on brain of control flies (genotype: tub–GAL80^ts/+; repo–GAL4/+). Scale bar, 20 µm. (C) Quantitative analysis of TUNEL-positive neurons. Statistical analysis was performed with an unpaired t test (***p<0.001, Error bar is ± SEM).