| Popis: |
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a slowly progressive motor dysfunction and loss of dopaminergic neurons located in the substantia nigra innervating the striatum, causing depletion of dopamine, which leads to a hyperactivation of the striatal medial spiny neurons. To understand the pathophysiological details of PD and for developing and screening the novel therapeutic and/or neuroprotective substances, animal models for PD induced by neurotoxins have been developed. Among them, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) is the most commonly used since it causes a selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and induces typical PD-like symptoms both in human and in experimental animals with a relatively simple application. In this chapter, we first overview the characteristics of PD and animal models with neurotoxins to establish, then focus on, MPTP-treated mouse and common marmoset models for PD with their practical experimental protocols and applications. |
