Effect of paraquat on motility in Drosophila melanogaster

Paraquat is a potential environmental toxin that contributes not only to cellular damage, but also causes specific neuronal level damage worldwide. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is a dynamic model system used to study environmental toxin-induced parkinsonism and the mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative disorders. Paraquat, a dopaminergic neurotoxin, has been successfully used in Drosophila to produce characteristic features of Parkinson's disease and to suggest convenient studies of paraquat-induced oxidative stress. Pertaining to the similarity between Drosophila and humans, in this study we investigated the impact of paraquat-induced locomotor defects on third-instar larvae of Drosophila melanogaster as model. The study was divided into two groups: the first batch of larvae served as the paraquat-treated group and received exposure at doses of 10mM and 20mM paraquat and the second group of untreated larvae served as the control group. Locomotory activity in both the treated and untreated larvae was monitored in a time-dependent manner. A significant decrease in locomotor ability of the treated third-instar larvae was observed with increasing concentrations of paraquat. The results of this study revealed the toxic effect of paraquat on larval motility. The study could lead to better understanding the toxic effects of paraquat on humans.