Experimental autoimmune nigral damage in guinea pigs

Weidong Le, Joseph Engelhardt, Wen Jie Xie, Larry Schneider, R. Glenn Smith, Stanley H. Appel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

An animal model of experimental autoimmune nigral damage (EAND) has been developed in guinea pigs by immunization with hybrid dopaminergic cells (MES 23.5). In such animals, loss of 40% of the substantia nigra (SN) neurons and damage to an additional 10% of SN neurons was associated with a 37-43% decrease of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity and a 36% decrease of dopamine (DA) content in the nigral-striatum. Eight of the thirteen animals developed significant hypokinesia. The EAND model suggests that degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in SN can be caused by immune-mediated processes, which may help our understanding of the pathogenesis in Parkinson's disease.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)45-53
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Neuroimmunology
Volume57
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1995

Keywords

  • Autoimmunity
  • Dopaminergic neurons
  • Parkinson's disease
  • Substantia nigra

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Immunology and Allergy
  • Immunology

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