Arena JP (1994) Parasitol Today "Expression of Caenorahbditis elegans messenger RNA in Xenopus oocytes: A model systems to study the mechanism of action of avermectins."

Arena JP

[Parasitol Today, 1994]

It has recently been shown that Xenopus oocytes injected with mRNA from the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans express avermectin-sensitive chloride channels(1). Joseph Arena here reviews whet is known about the mechanism of action of avermectin and how these recent results relate to the mechanism in nematodes.

Wu Y et al. (2023) Int J Mol Sci "Towards Understanding Neurodegenerative Diseases: Insights from Caenorhabditis elegans."

Yu X, Wu Y, Zhang M, Li Z, Chen Y

[Int J Mol Sci, 2023]

The elevated occurrence of debilitating neurodegenerative disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease (HD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), demands urgent disease-modifying therapeutics. Owing to the evolutionarily conserved molecular signalling pathways with mammalian species and facile genetic manipulation, the nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> (<i>C. elegans</i>) emerges as a powerful and manipulative model system for mechanistic insights into neurodegenerative diseases. Herein, we review several representative <i>C. elegans</i> models established for five common neurodegenerative diseases, which closely simulate disease phenotypes specifically in the gain-of-function aspect. We exemplify applications of high-throughput genetic and drug screenings to illustrate the potential of <i>C. elegans</i> to probe novel therapeutic targets. This review highlights the utility of <i>C. elegans</i> as a comprehensive and versatile platform for the dissection of neurodegenerative diseases at the molecular level.