Parkinson's disease Insights from non-traditional model organisms

作者：Pienaar Ilse S^*; Gotz Jurgen; Feany Mel B

来源：Progress in Neurobiology, 2010, 92(4): 558-571.

DOI：10.1016/j.pneurobio.2010.09.001

• Parkinson s disease
• Animal models
• Zebrafish
• Danio reno
• Fruit fly
• Drosophila melanogaster
• Nematode
• Caenorhabditis elegans
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Parkinson s disease (PD) was one of the first neurological disorders to have aspects of the disease modeled faithfully in non-human animal species A key feature of the disease is a diminished control over voluntary movement and progressive depletion of brain dopamine (DA) levels that stems from the large-scale loss of DA-producing neurons Despite their inherent limitations rodent and non-human primate models of PD have helped unravel several aspects of PD pathogenesis Thus we now have neurotransmitter replacement therapy for PD and a number of neuroprotective compounds that can be assessed in clinical trials However no treatment is currently available that can halt or retard the progressive loss of DA neurons which underlies PD pathology Moreover no therapies can permanently alleviate the clinical features of the disease The lack of a cure or long-term effective treatment is paralled by our incomplete understanding of the underlying pathomechanisms of the disease A range of robust flexible and complementary animal models will be an invaluable tool with which to unravel the pathogenesis of PD Here we review the most Important contributions made by non-mammalian model organisms These include zebrafish (Dani reno) flies (Drosophila melanogaster) anurans (frogs and toads) and nematodes (Caenorhabditis elegans) While it is not anticipated that they will replace rodent and primate-based ones they offer convenient systems with which to explore the relative contribution made by genetic and environmental factors to PD pathology In addition they offer an economic and rapid alternative for testing compounds that target PD Most i

• 出版日期2010-12