In this episode of the APS Publications Podcast, featuring an article from AJP–Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, author Periklis Marnas discusses inhalation exposure of adult D. melanogaster to cigarette smoke and changes in physiological parameters and the expression of COPD-associated orthologous genes. The study found that transcriptomic responses were more profound in females, indicating sex-specific responses to inhaled toxicants. Furthermore, enrichment analyses of the differentially expressed genes in females pointed to biomolecules associated with response to nicotine and detoxification. D. melanogaster thus provides a powerful model system to test the efficacy of new potential drugs for COPD treatment.

Marnas P, Lüpold S, Giannakou L, Giannopoulos AS, Hatzoglou C, Gourgoulianis KI, Zarogiannis SG, Rouka E. Modeling COPD in Drosophila melanogaster by cigarette smoke inhalation: functional changes and alterations in the expression of COPD-relevant orthologous genes. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2025 Jul 1;329(1):R13-R19. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00056.2025