To be or not to be pink(1): contradictory findings in an animal model for Parkinson's disease.

ABSTRACT: The PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 knockout rat (Pink1^-/-) is marketed as an established model for Parkinson's disease, characterized by development of motor deficits and progressive degeneration of half the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta by 8 months of age. In this study, we address our concerns about the reproducibility of the Pink1^-/- rat model. We evaluated behavioural function, number of substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons and extracellular striatal dopamine concentrations by in vivo microdialysis. Strikingly, we and others failed to observe any loss of dopaminergic neurons in 8-month-old male Pink1^-/- rats. To understand this variability, we compared key experimental parameters from the different studies and

SUBMITTER: de Haas R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6798789 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature