In-Vivo High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning Proton MR Spectroscopy of Drosophila Melanogaster Flies as a Model System to Investigate Trauma, Innate Immunity and Aging

¹NMR Surgical Laboratory, MGH & Shriners Hospitals, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; ²Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Boston, MA, USA; ³Molecular Surgery Laboratory, MGH & Shriners Hospitals, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

We demonstrate biomarker profiles with high-resolution magic angle spinning proton MR spectroscopy (HRMAS H1 MRS) of live Drosophila melanogaster flies. Aged flies exhibited more lipids following trauma, indicating that older flies are susceptible to trauma-mediated lipid homeostatic perturbations. In contrast, even young but immunocompromised flies also exhibited increased lipids suggesting that trauma elicits age-dependent lipid homeostatic perturbation that may promote immune dysfunction. We propose for the first time that in vivo HRMAS H1 MRS of Drosophila melanogaster in a 14 tesla spectrometer is a feasible and valuable model system for spectroscopic investigations of trauma, innate immunity and aging.