Scientific publications
MPTP-induced parkinsonism in primates: pattern of striatal dopamine loss following acute and chronic administration
Pérez-Otaño I, Oset C, Luquin MR, Herrero MT, Obeso JA, Del Río J.
Department of Pharmacology, University of Navarra Medical School, Pamplona, Spain
We analyzed the effect of two different schedules of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) treatment on dopaminergic systems in the striatum of cynomolgus monkeys. Acute MPTP treatment produced a marked dopamine (DA) depletion, more severe in the caudate nucleus than in the putamen.
Chronic MPTP induced a more pronounced reduction in DA levels, the putamen being slightly more affected than the caudate nucleus, in accord with immunohistochemical findings that showed a higher loss of tyrosine-hydroxylase positive neurons in ventral subpopulations of the substantia nigra pars compacta. A striking increment in the quotient DOPAC+HVA/DA was also observed in chronically but not in acutely treated monkeys, especially in the putamen. In chronically treated animals there was a nearly complete loss of DA in all subdivisions of the putamen. In the caudate nucleus, a rostrocaudal gradient of DA depletion was found, with a greater decrease in DA concentration in the rostral parts, especially in the dorsolateral portions.
The pattern of striatal DA loss characteristic of Parkinson's disease can be reproduced to a certain extent in MPTP-intoxicated primates.
CITATION Neurosci Lett. 1994 Jul 4;175(1-2):121-5