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Updated: Jul 19, 2026
Assaying Locomotor, Learning, and Memory Deficits in Drosophila Models of Neurodegeneration
Published on: March 11, 2011
Effect of donepezil hydrochloride on the transgenic Drosophila expressing human Aβ-42
Yasir Hasan Siddique1, Falaq Naz1, Rahul1
1Drosophila Transgenic Laboratory, Section of Genetics, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
Aim:
In the present study, the effect of donepezil hydrochloride was studied on the transgenic Drosophila expressing human amyloid beta-42 in the neurons.
Methods:
Donepezil hydrochloride at final concentration of 0.1, 1 and 10 mM was mixed in the diet and the flies expressing human amyloid beta-42 under Upstream Activation Sequence control (Alzheimer Disease [AD] flies) were allowed to feed on it for 30 days.
Results:
The AD flies exposed to various doses of Donepezil hydrochloride showed a dose dependent significant delay in the loss of climbing ability, increase in activity, reduction in the oxidative stress and apoptotic markers. A significant improvement was also observed in cognitive parameters. A dose dependent significant reduction in the activity of acetylcholinesterase was also observed. The docking studies suggest the positive interaction between donepezil, amyloid beta-42 and acetylcholinesterase. The results obtained from immunohistochemistry also showed a dose dependent significant reduction in the amyloid beta-42 aggregates.
Conclusion:
The results suggest that donepezil hydrochloride is potent enough to reduce the AD symptoms being mimicked in transgenic flies.
