Dietary Macronutrient Management to Treat Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease.

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been demonstrated to play an important role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). The products of several PD-associated genes, including , , , , and , have important roles in mitochondrial biology. Thus, modifying mitochondrial function could be a potential therapeutic strategy for PD.

Dietary management and physical exercise can improve climbing defects and mitochondrial activity in Drosophila melanogaster parkin null mutants.

Physical exercise can improve gait, balance, tremor, flexibility, grip strength and motor coordination in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Several lines of evidence have also shown the therapeutic potential of dietary management and supplementation in halting the progression of PD. However, there is a lack of research on the combined effects of physical activity and nutrition in the progression of PD.

Stearic Acid Supplementation in High Protein to Carbohydrate (P:C) Ratio Diet Improves Physiological and Mitochondrial Functions of Drosophila melanogaster parkin Null Mutants.

Optimizing dietary macronutrients benefits the prevention and management of many human diseases but there is conflicting dietary advice for Parkinson's disease (PD), and no single strategy is universally recommended. Recently, it was shown that dietary stearic acid (C18:0) improves survival and mitochondrial functions in the parkin null Drosophila model of PD. Here, we incorporate stearic acid into high protein and high carbohydrate diets and study survival, climbing ability, mitochondrial membrane potential, respiration, basal reactive oxygen species, and conduct lipidomics assays.

Low protein to carbohydrate ratio diet delays onset of Parkinsonism like phenotype in Drosophila melanogaster parkin null mutants.

Dietary management plays a key role in the treatment of many diseases. However, no prospective studies have critically investigated the potential for dietary modification to delay the onset, or slow the progression, of Parkinson's Disease (PD). To study whether manipulating the Protein to Carbohydrate (P:C) ratio in the diet could affect the progression of PD, we compared Drosophila melanogaster parkin null mutants and their experimental controls fed with diets differing in their P:C ratio.

Assessing bioenergetic functions from isolated mitochondria in Drosophila melanogaster.

Mitochondria are involved in generating more than 90 percent of cellular energy and are responsible for many cellular processes such as metabolism, cell signalling, apoptosis and ageing. Currently, there are a number of different experimental approaches employed to measure mitochondrial health and function. Here, we demonstrate a novel approach that quantifies substrate induced mitochondrial respiration from Drosophila.

Drosophila adiponectin receptor in insulin producing cells regulates glucose and lipid metabolism by controlling insulin secretion.

Adipokines secreted from adipose tissue are key regulators of metabolism in animals. Adiponectin, one of the adipokines, modulates pancreatic beta cell function to maintain energy homeostasis. Recently, significant conservation between Drosophila melanogaster and mammalian metabolism has been discovered.