Effect of paraquat
on motility in Drosophila melanogaster
Singh Sushma Kumari, Gudadhe Shubham and Ahsan Jawaid
Res. J. Biotech.; Vol. 20(7); 175-179;
doi: https://doi.org/10.25303/207rjbt1750179; (2025)
Abstract
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.
