Mapping of catecholaminergic denervation, neurodegeneration, and inflammation in 6-OHDA-treated Parkinson’s disease mice

Abstract Efforts to develop disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been hindered by the lack of animal models replicating all hallmarks of PD and the insufficient attention to extra-nigrostriatal regions pathologically critical for the prodromal appearance of non-motor sympto...

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Main Authors: Matteo Santoro, Rachel K. Lam, Sarah E. Blumenfeld, Weiqi Tan, Peter Ciari, Emily K. Chu, Nay L. Saw, Daniel Ryskamp Rijsketic, Jennifer S. Lin, Boris D. Heifets, Mehrdad Shamloo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-02-01
Series:npj Parkinson's Disease
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-025-00872-w
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Summary:Abstract Efforts to develop disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been hindered by the lack of animal models replicating all hallmarks of PD and the insufficient attention to extra-nigrostriatal regions pathologically critical for the prodromal appearance of non-motor symptoms. Among PD models, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) infusion in mice has gained prominence since 2012, primarily focusing on the nigrostriatal region. This study characterized tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neuron and fiber loss across the brain following a unilateral 6-OHDA (20 µg) infusion into the dorsal striatum. Our analysis integrates immunolabeling, brain clearing (iDISCO+), light sheet microscopy, and computational methods, including fMRI and machine learning tools. We also examined sex differences, disease progression, neuroinflammatory responses, and pro-apoptotic signaling in nigrostriatal regions of C57BL/6 mice exposed to varying 6-OHDA dosages (5, 10, or 20 µg) followed by 1, 7, and 14 days of recovery. This comprehensive, spatiotemporal analysis of 6-OHDA-induced pathology was used to map the time course of neuronal degeneration and the onset of neuroinflammation.
ISSN:2373-8057