The effect of quercetin on the fluorescent intensity of neurofibrillary tangles that correspond to Alzheimers disease within Drosophila melanogaster
Alzheimers disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that accounts for more than 60% of all dementia cases, and over seven million Americans above 65 years old were affected with AD in 2024 (Gaugler et al., 2024). A symptom of AD is severe memory loss, which leads to lowered brain function and a need for intensive care. Currently, AD only has five symptomatic approved drugs. However, there is a lack of research in the progression of AD through the neurofibrillary tangle mechanism. Tau is a microtubule stabilizing protein that becomes unstable when hyperphosphorylated. Hyperphosphorylated tau misfolds, resulting in toxic aggregates that accumulate to create neurofibrillary tangles. Saffron decreased tau fibrillation, neurotoxicity and slowed the neurofibrillary tangle formation (Patel et al., 2024). Therefore, quercetin, an antioxidant present in saffron, was hypothesized to reduce the intensity of the neurofibrillary tangles within Drosophila melanogaster , commonly known as the fruit fly, exhibiting AD. Drosophila melanogaster has easily modifiable genes and shares a similar genetic sequence with humans, which is ideal to research if the effect of a supplement in flies could have a similar effect on humans. This study found that quercetin had no significant effect on the intensity of the neurofibrillary tangles within Drosophila melanogaster . The ANOVA statistical test showcased that the p-value was above 0.05 between flies exhibiting AD and flies exhibiting AD with supplemented quercetin. Possible error sources include the fluorescence of brain tissue present and the large constant areameasured for each brain image.