3-D Fly Brains

Scientists have figured out how to digitally dissect flies, boosting researchers' hopes for better, faster brain research.

To peer into the fruit fly's body without prying it apart, researchers employed optical projection tomography (OPT)—a technology that generated detailed 3D images of the inside of a fruit fly for the first time (above). Such images could help speed up genetic research into Alzheimer’s and other human diseases that affect brain cells.

"Neurodegeneration, the gradual loss of function of brain cells that occurs in Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s and motor neuron diseases, isn't a strictly human phenomenon," said Dr. Mary O'Connell, a researcher at the Medical Research Council (MRC) who led the research. "Insects are affected by it, too."

Because the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and human share many genes with similar functions, the fly is widely used by genetic researchers to study how genes influence human disease. The fly's dark exoskeleton, however, prevented easy microscope dissection—until now.

"Scientists have had to tease apart fruit fly tissues by hand [in the past]," said Leeanne McGurk, another MRC researcher. "Now, we have got over the problem… It is possible to use imaging techniques not only to view its internal organs but to generate 2D and 3D images of the entire fly."

O'Connell and her colleagues' research appears in the September issue of the Public Library of Science journal.

—LiveScience Staff

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