Pre-Pulse Inhibition of an escape response in adult fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster
Pre-Pulse Inhibition (PPI) is a neural process where suppression of a startle response is elicited by preceding the startling stimulus (Pulse) with a weak, non-startling one (Pre-Pulse). Defective PPI is widely employed as a behavioural endophenotype in humans and mammalian disorder-relevant models for neuropsychiatric disorders. We have developed a user-friendly, semi-automated, high-throughput-compatible Drosophila light-off jump response PPI paradigm, with which we demonstrate that PPI, with similar parameters measured in mammals, exists in adults of this model organism. We report that Drosophila PPI is affected by reduced expression of Dysbindin and both reduced and increased expression of Nmdar1 (N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 1), perturbations associated with schizophrenia. Studying the biology of PPI in an organism that offers an abundance of genetic tools and a complex and well characterized connectome will greatly facilitate our efforts to gain deeper insight into the aetiology of human mental disorders, while reducing the need for mammalian models.
Authors
- Erika Viràgh
- Pavel Čížek
- Zoltán Hegedüs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9459-1654)
- Annette Schenck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6918-3314)
- Lenke Asztalos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5646-5008)
- Károly Kovács (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3796-4172)
- Zoltán Györgypál (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6872-4545)
- Tamás Szlanka
- Michaela Fencková (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5716-1652)
- Ágnes Zvara
- Joanna IntHout (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6127-0747)
- Enikő Csapó (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1980-4020)
- Mihaly Konda
- Judit Bíró
- Tamas Lukacsovich
- Zoltan Asztalos
- Gabor Steinbach
- Emanuela Konda-Szucs
- Laszlo Puskas
Institutions
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- HUN-REN Szegedi Biológiai Kutatóközpont (HU)
- The Gurdon Institute (GB)
- Radboud University Medical Center (NL)
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (CZ)
- Institute of Biochemistry (HU)
- Amgen (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Bay Zoltán Foundation for Applied Research (HU)
- University of Pecs (HU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Translational Psychiatry
- Published
- 2026-01-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-025-03717-5
- Primary Topic
- Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Indian National Science Academy
- University of Leicester
- European Commission
- Cardiff University
- ZonMw
- Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
- National Institutes of Health
- University of California, San Diego
- Nemzeti Kutatási, Fejlesztési és Innovaciós Alap
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences