Using Lactate as a Measure of Developmental Metabolism in Drosophila melanogaster

Lactate is a commonly known biochemical that is usually produced under anaerobic conditions. This makes it a useful marker for examining the possibility that Drosophila melanogaster undergoes natural hypoxic states during development due to the rate of growth. To analyze this observation and its potential for explaining developmental changes, a lactate assay was used to quantify lactate produced across time points in the third larval instar and across early adulthood. Lactate assay results showed near-zero lactate levels for both larvae and adults. There were confounding factors present in larval lactate assays which made analysis difficult. However, the results of the adult lactate assays seem to indicate an inability to produce large amounts of lactate regardless of time point in adulthood, suggesting that adults do not naturally experience hypoxia during or after eclosion.