Comparative Analysis of Pacing-induced Heart Failure in Drosophila Populations
Navid Doktormomtaz
Mentor: Michael Rose
The primary aim of my study was to assay age-specific heart rate and uncoordinated fibrillation in five long-lived and five baseline Drosophila melanogaster populations in the Rose Lab, in order to analyze pacing-induced heart failure in these populations. This study used heart rate measurements of fruit flies under anesthesia at different ages and measurements of the response to electrical pacing to analyze the ability of the flies’ heart to survive acute electrical provocation and then produce productive and repeated contractions. The average heart rate of both long-lived and baseline populations declined with age. In addition, the average heart rate for the long-lived populations during intermediate ages was greater than that of the baseline populations at the same age. These results are consistent with the facts that the average longevity of our long-lived populations exceeds that of our baseline population by two or three times, and that the average heart rate of fruit flies declines progressively with age. Also, both long-lived and baseline populations showed an age-dependent response to electrical pacing. Finally, after the electrical pacing treatment the rate of heart failure in the long-lived populations was lower than that in the baseline populations, with most failure falling into the fibrillation category. These results are consistent with previous studies that demonstrate that adult response to electrical pacing is dramatically age-dependent.