Many pieces of evidence now demonstrate that cellular superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities are associated with the maintenance of the integrity of the nervous system. For example, reduced Cu-ZnSOD activity and associated neuropathologies are seen in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients, an ALS-like phenotype appears in mice expressing the mutant Cu-ZnSOD peptde, and the extreme neuropathologies reported in the case of MnSOD knock out mice strongly support this notion. However, it can be argued that the observed neuromuscular pathologies are terminal phenotypic effects that did not arise primarily due to reduced SOD activity. In other words, the critical connection between oxidative damage and neurodegeneration remains elusive. An oxidative damage protection system is essential ubiquitously in the mitochondria of all aerobic organisms, as evident from the fact that lack of mitochondrial SOD activity reduces the life span in all organisms studied. We hypothesize that reduced MnSOD activity should initiate neuromuscular degeneration at an earlier age and that degeneration ought to be progressive in nature. Our preliminary results support this hypothesis since reduction in MnSOD activity is associated with progressive reduction in motor ability, presumably due to the massive neuronal loss that these flies suffer. A MnSOD null (Sod2n283) and a weak allele (Sod2WK) and their combinations provide us with a unique model to study the effects of oxidative stress on neuromuscular ability, cognition, neurodegeneration, and how it influences natural aging. Using the Drosophila model in this context will be ideal because of the (1) broad availability of tools for neuropathological and neurophysiological assessments; (2) the short life span allows faster analysis of progressive degeneration events as a function of age; and (3) transgenic overexpression of MnSOD will be employed to rescue any observed pathologies. The study will provide valuable information on oxidative damage induced neurodegeneration as well as how it influences the neuromuscular ability and cognition as a function of age in a whole animal model.
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