Age-dependent circadian defects in response to wild type αS, TP-αS, EKO/Kir2.1 and NaChBac expression in DA neurons.

<p>(<b>A</b>, <b>B</b>) Double-plotted actograms of young flies (3 days after hatching) expressing wild type αS (WT-αS) (A) and TP-αS (B) under the control of the DA neuron specific <i>TH-Gal4</i> driver. T refers to circadian periodicity which is 23.8 hrs in both cases. (<b>C</b>, <b>D</b>) Double-plotted actograms of old flies (30 days after hatching) expressing WT-αS and TP-αS. Note the different circadian periodicity in response to WT-αS (T = 23.7 hrs) and TP-αS expression (T = 26.7 hrs). (<b>E</b>, <b>F</b>) Double-plotted actogram of old flies expressing EKO/Kir2.1 (E) or NaChBac (F) under the control of the DA neuron specific <i>TH-Gal4</i> driver. Note the similar extension of the circadian periodicities (T = 27.6 hrs and T = 27.0 hrs, respectively) as observed after TP-αS expression. All experiments (n = 32–58 flies) were carried out under constant dark conditions after the animals were kept in a dark-light cycle of 12∶12 hrs. T was calculated by the Chi-squared periodogram analysis (see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0024701#s4" target="_blank">Materials and Methods</a>).