Mechanisms involved in age-related memory impairment and sleep in Drosophila

随着年龄的增长，我们的记忆力会下降。这种现象被称为年龄相关性记忆损伤(AMI)。急性心肌梗死是一个严重的社会和医学问题，随着年龄的增长，它变得更加严重。为了了解急性心肌梗死的原因，我们在果蝇中进行了研究。我们发现，衰老会导致一种蛋白质--丙酮酸羧化酶(PC)的增加。PC存在于神经胶质细胞中，即与神经元相互作用的细胞。胶质细胞中PC活性的增加抑制了D-丝氨酸的产生，D-丝氨酸是一种调节神经元活动的神经调节剂。给老年果蝇喂食D-丝氨酸可减少急性心肌梗死。这表明神经调节剂D-丝氨酸的胶质产生减少是AMI的一个原因。在第二个项目中，我们研究了果蝇的睡眠。睡眠对许多生物体来说是必不可少的，但它的调节仍然不清楚。我们发现，睡眠受钙/钙调蛋白信号通路的调节，这一通路控制着许多生物过程。我们的结果表明，睡眠可能通过一种机制与其他生物过程联系起来。

As we age, we suffer a decrease in memory. This phenomenon is known as age-related memory impairment (AMI). AMI is a serious social and medical problem, and it becomes more severe as we age. To understand the causes of AMI, we studied it in Drosophila. We found that aging causes an increase in a protein, pyruvate carboxylase (PC). PC is found in glia, cells that interact with neurons. Increasing PC activity in glia inhibits production D-serine, a neuromodulator that regulates neuronal activity. Feeding D-serine to old flies decreases AMI. This indicates that decreased glial production of the neuromodulator D-serine is a cause of AMI.In a second project, we studied sleep in Drosophila. Sleep is essential for many organisms, but its regulation is still unclear. We found that sleep is regulated by the Ca2+/calmodulin signaling pathway, a pathway known to control many biological processes. Our results suggest a mechanism through which sleep may be linked to other biological processes.