Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes, Table of Contents Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 2012; 120(04): 184-185DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1304566 Mini-Review Series on Diabetes and its Complications © J. A. Barth Verlag in Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York Drosophila: A Model for Understanding Obesity and Diabetic Complications A. A. Teleman 1 German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany , I. Ratzenböck 2 Department of Medicine I and Clinical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany , S. Oldham 3 Sanford – Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA › Author Affiliations Recommend Article Abstract Buy Article Abstract The molecular mechanisms underlying development of obesity and diabetic complications are not well understood. Drosophila has become a popular model organism for studying a variety of human diseases. We discuss here emerging Drosophila models of obesity and diabetic complications. Key words Key wordsneuropathy - obesity - signal transduction Full Text References References 1 Lachin JM, Genuth S, Nathan DM et al. Effect of glycemic exposure on the risk of microvascular complications in the diabetes control and complications trial – revisited. Diabetes 2008; 57: 995-1001 2 Lessing D, Bonini NM. Maintaining the brain: insight into human neurodegeneration from Drosophila melanogaster mutants. Nat Rev Genet 2009; 10: 359-370 3 Wessells RJ, Fitzgerald E, Cypser JR et al. Insulin regulation of heart function in aging fruit flies. Nat Genet 2004; 36: 1275-1281 4 Birse RT, Choi J, Reardon K et al. High-fat-diet-induced obesity and heart dysfunction are regulated by the TOR pathway in Drosophila. Cell metabolism 2010; 12: 533-544 5 Musselman LP, Fink JL, Narzinski K et al. A high-sugar diet produces obesity and insulin resistance in wild-type Drosophila. Dis Model Mech 2011; 4: 842-849 6 Murillo-Maldonado JM, Sanchez-Chavez G, Salgado LM et al. Drosophila insulin pathway mutants affect visual physiology and brain function besides growth, lipid, and carbohydrate metabolism. Diabetes 2011; 60: 1632-1636 7 Wang T, Lao U, Edgar BA. TOR-mediated autophagy regulates cell death in Drosophila neurodegenerative disease. The Journal of cell biology 2009; 186: 703-711