Topic: nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive and incurable neurodegenerative disease characterized by an irreversible loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons. Its symptomatology evolves over the years from a prodromal stage, including neuropsychiatric symptoms such as loss of motivation and anxiety, to a clinical stage with significant motor impairments. Today, the causes of PD pathogenesis are still poorly understood. In this context, we recently performed a translational metabolomic study using PD patients and rat models, which revealed a decoupling between the glycolysis and the Krebs cycle

In animal experimentation, welfare and severity assessments are necessary to meet legal and ethical requirements. Injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the nigrostriatal system of rats is used as a model for Parkinson's disease (PD). Unilateral intranigral infusion of 6-OHDA leads to a massive destruction of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons and concomitant motor disturbances. After injection of Levodopa (L-Dopa), these rats develop dyskinesias. The bilateral model leads to slow and incomplete retrograde degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. For severity assessment, we quantitatively m