Abstract
Purpose: In the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) rat model of Parkinson's disease (PD), it is important to determine lesion severity. This evaluation can be performed in vivo, through evaluation of dopamine (DA)-dependent motor function or with small animal positron emission tomography (microPET), or at postmortem, by examining markers for DA neurons. Procedures: Rats were given mild or severe unilateral 6-OHDA lesions, scanned with the tracer [11C](±)dihydrotetrabenazine ([11C]DTBZ), and tested on a tapered/ledged beam-walking task. At postmortem, autoradiography was performed with [11C]DTBZ. Results: Autoradiography was significantly correlated with microPET and behavioral scores, whereas the microPET and behavioral data were not significantly correlated. Conclusions: This study shows that behavioral analysis, microPET, and autoradiography are all good tools for measuring the integrity of the DA system, and demonstrates the utility of the tapered/ledged beam-walking test to screen for lesion severity, as well as the importance of including postmortem analysis after in vivo imaging studies.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 292-299 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Molecular Imaging and Biology |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- 6-OHDA
- Behavior
- Dopamine
- MicroPET
- Partial volume effect
- Rodent
- Striatum
- Tapered beam-walking task
- VMAT [C]DTBZ