Oxidant stress and injury is inherent in many human diseases such as ischemic vascular and respiratory diseases, heart failure, myocardial infarction, stroke, perinatal and placental insufficiencies, diabetes, cancer, and numerous psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Finding novel therapeutics to combat the deleterious effects of oxidative stress is critical to create better therapeutic strategies for many conditions that have few treatment options. This study used the anoxia-tolerant fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to investigate endogenous cellular protection mechanisms and potential interactions to determine their ability to regulate synaptic functional tolerance and cell survival during acute oxidative stress. The Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ) was used to analyze synaptic transmission and specific motor axon contributions. Drosophila Schneider 2 (S2) cells were used to assess viability. Acute oxidative stress was induced using p harmacological paradigms that generate physiologically relevant oxidant species: mitochondrial superoxide production induced by sodium azide (NaN3) and hydroxyl radical formation via hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). A combination of genetic and pharmacological approaches were used to explore the hypothesis that endogenous protection mechanisms control cellular responses to stress by manipulating ion channel conductance and neurotransmission. Furthermore, this study analyzed a group of marine natural products, pseudopterosins, to identify compounds capable of modulating synaptic transmission during acute oxidative stress and potential novel neuromodulatory agents. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_32071 |
| Contributors | Caplan, Stacee Lee (author), Dawson-Scully, Ken (Thesis advisor), Milton, Sarah L. (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 186 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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