Application of a C. elegans Dopamine Neuron Degeneration Assay for the Validation of Potential Parkinson's Disease Genes

Laura A. Berkowitz; Shusei Hamamichi; Adam L. Knight; Adam J. Harrington; Guy A. Caldwell; Kim A. Caldwell

doi:10.3791/835

Application of a C. elegans Dopamine Neuron Degeneration Assay for the Validation of Potential Pa...

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Application of a C. elegans Dopamine Neuron Degeneration Assay for the Validation of Potential Parkinson’s Disease Genes

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08:42 min

July 18, 2008

DOI: 10.3791/835-v

Laura A. Berkowitz¹, Shusei Hamamichi¹, Adam L. Knight¹, Adam J. Harrington¹, Guy A. Caldwell¹, Kim A. Caldwell¹

¹Department of Biological Sciences,University of Alabama

This video demonstrates how to use C. elegans to assess dopaminergic neuron neurodegeneration as a model for Parkinson's disease. Furthermore, genetic screens are used to identify factors that either enhance degeneration or are neuroprotective.

In the Caldwell Lab, AKA, the Worm Shack, we study neurological disease mechanisms in sea elegance. And after a long day of fruitful experimentation, we reward ourselves with some recreational activity. Hi, I'm Adam Knight, undergraduate student from the Calwell Laboratory in the Department of Biological Sciences in the University of Alabama.

Today, myself and others will show how to perform a dopamine neuron degeneration assay in C Elegants. I'll be crossing a dopamine neurodegenerative worm strain with transgenic strains that overexpress candidate disease related genes and dopamine neurons. Hi, I'm Adam Harrington, a graduate student in the Caldwell Lab.

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