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dc.rights.licenseCC-BY-NC-ND
dc.contributor.advisorSinnige, Tessa
dc.contributor.authorSchijndel, Vera van
dc.date.accessioned2021-10-29T11:00:18Z
dc.date.available2021-10-29T11:00:18Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.identifier.urihttps://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/129
dc.description.abstractProtein aggregation is a pathological hallmark of a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases. The aggregation processes at molecular level have been extensively studied in vitro. However, The mechanism of protein aggregation in vivo is less established. Kinetic in vivo studies have been performed using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. Fluorescently labelled polyglutamine (polyQ) expressed in body wall muscle cells of living C.elegans aggregates into small inclusions which can be easily visualized using fluorescence microscopy. In this study, we take advantage of this model to determine the kinetics of polyQ aggregation in the neurons. We provide a novel image-based approach to quantitatively analyse the number of aggregates over time. Our results show that inclusions can be visualized and characterized using fluorescence confocal imaging in living C.elegans expressing pan-neuronal polyQ. Furthermore, the formation of inclusions is time, concentration and length dependent. One striking observation in this study was that only a subset of neurons contained aggregates. This study improves our understanding of aggregation mechanisms in the neurons of a living organism which is a great contribution to research focused on understanding human diseases.
dc.description.sponsorshipUtrecht University
dc.language.isoEN
dc.subjectProtein aggregation is a pathological hallmark of a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases. To improve our understanding of aggregation mechanisms in vivo, we determined the kinetics of protein aggregation in the neurons of living Caenorhabditis elegans expressing fluorescently labelled polyglutamine.
dc.titleAn image-based approach to determine the kinetics of polyQ aggregation in the neurons of C.elegans
dc.type.contentMaster Thesis
dc.rights.accessrightsOpen Access
dc.subject.keywordsprotein aggregation; chemical kinetics; polyglutamine; c.elegans; fluorescence microscopy
dc.subject.courseuuMolecular and Cellular Life Sciences
dc.thesis.id402


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