Figure 4.

Acute inhibition of calcineurin by transient Nebula upregulation or pharmacological treatment enhances STM in aged flies. STM quantification for 2- to 4-d-old flies (young) (A) and aged flies (30–33 d old) with or without RU486 induction (B). Performance was compared between uninduced and induced flies. *p < 0.05. Transient upregulation of APP severely impaired memory performance. Transient induction of both APP and Nebula preserved memory performance in young and older flies. n = 6 independent experiments per genotype per condition in A and B. C, Acute pharmacological inhibition of calcineurin by treatment with either cyclosporin A (CspA) or FK506 enhanced memory performance of aged control flies. Pharmacological inhibition of calcineurin reversed the STM defect to the level of age-matched controls treated with vehicle control (DMSO). n = 5 independent experiments per genotype. All values represent mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05 compared with vehicle feeding of control flies or as indicated. D, Quantification of calcineurin activity determined from extracts of old flies fed with either DMSO (vehicle) as a control or drug. Drug-treated flies were treated for 3 d with either 30 μm cyclosporin A or FK506. Quantification represents mean ± SEM. n = 5 independent experiments. *p < 0.05 compared with the indicated conditions.