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Parkinsons 2016
December 05-07, 2016
Volume 6 Issue 6(Suppl) J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism
ISSN: 2161-0460 JADP, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
December 05-07, 2016 Phoenix, USA
2nd International Conference on
Parkinson’s Disease & Movement Disorders
Alan Wu et al., J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 2016, 6:6(Suppl)
Grape skin powder mediates mitochondria function by autophagy activation and exhibits potential
protective benefit in a Drosophila Parkinson’s Disease Model
Alan Wu1,2, Zhihao Wu1, Andy Sigears2 and Bingwei Lu1
1The Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
2Crystal Springs Uplands School, Hillsborough, CA
Recent studies suggest that moderate red wine consumption may confer several health benefits: longer lifespan, protection
against heart diseases, certain cancers and age-related neurological diseases. These health benefits are believed to come
from a compound called resveratrol. Here we investigate the potential effect of grape skin from pure merlot on Parkinson’s
disease by incorporating grape skin powder into the daily food intake of Drosophila melanogaster with PINK1 loss-of-function.
The benefits of consuming this grape skin powder have featured not only the improvement of indirect flight muscle functions,
as shown in the rescue of abnormal wing posture in PINK1 mutant flies, but also prolonged the lifespan. The effect on WT
flies’ life span is not significant. Mitochondrial dysfunction is linked to the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease, in particular,
PINK1 has been suggested to interact with mitochondrial fusion/fission machinery and the autophagy pathway. To underscore
the beneficial qualities of the grape skin, we further showed that consumption of the grape skin powder demonstrated a rescue
of mitochondria aggregation phenotype in the muscle of PINK1 mutants. Moreover; results from western blots exhibited
significantly elevated levels of LC3-II in the muscles of grape powder fed flies, indicating increased mitochondria autophagy.
This effect is more obvious in flies fed with grape skin than the pure resveratrol compound. In addition, mutant flies appeared
to be more sensitive than wild type flies. Our study suggested grape skin powder can induce autophagy activation, mediate the
mitochondria function, and has potential protective benefit in a Parkinson's disease model.
Biography
Alan Wu is an intern student working in Dr. Bingwei Lu’s lab in Stanford University School of Medicine. He is currently a Junior in the Crystal Springs Uplands High
School. This study is done with the instruction and guidance from his mentor, Dr. Zhihao Wu, who is a post-doc in Dr. Lu’s lab.