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. 2012 Feb 2;8(2):e1002488. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002488

Figure 1. [A53T]α-Synuclein expression in fly heads results in age-dependent loss of DA.

Figure 1

(A) Western blot showing abundance of human [A53T]α-Synuclein after aminergic neuron (ddc-GAL4)-specific expression in lysates of fly heads. While flies without [A53T]α-Synuclein transgene do not show any detectable signal for [A53T]α-Synuclein in Western blot, an increase of [A53T]α-Synuclein protein levels was observed by increasing the copy number of transgenes. Syntaxin served as a loading control and molecular weight markers are indicated. (B) Whereas ddc>A53T/+ flies displayed no significant difference in longevity as compared to ddc/+ flies, flies homozygous for ddc>A53T showed a significant decrease (p<0.001, Log rank test). (C) Compared to controls (ddc/+), ddc>A53T/+ flies showed a significant age-dependent loss of DA at 3 and 4 weeks post eclosion (*p<0.05 vs. control). (D) Only ddc>A53T flies showed a significant decrease (***p<0.001) in DA concentration in fly heads at 4 weeks. Comparisons of multiple controls were not significant (4 week values as per cent of 1 week values; ANOVA followed by Newman-Keuls Multiple Comparison Test).