Climbing behavior of 60 day-old flies.

Healthy looking 60 day-old male flies were selected for this assay. Ten flies were placed in a 100 ml glass cylinder. Following a brief and gentle tapping, the distribution of flies was then counted in 3 bins at different heights (above or at 35 mm height, between 7.5 mm and 35 mm, and 7.5 mm or lower). Climbing pattern of flies expressing SOD1 in motoneurons (A), glial cells (B), and co-expressing SOD1 in both motoneurons and glial cells (C) are shown. Flies expressing human SOD1 proteins in glial cells show a significant shift of distribution to the bottom of the cylinder compared to M1B>UAS-dsod1 (the control fly) and in comparison with their expression in motoneurons (A) or dual expression in MNs + glia (C). These observations suggest a significant impairment of climbing activities at 60 days in flies expressing human SOD1s in glia. The statistical significances were calculated using Prizm software, Two-way ANOVA and * p