101. Excessive levels of nitric oxide in rat model of Parkinson's disease induced by rotenone.
- Author
-
ZHONG-KUI XIONG, JUAN LANG, GANG XU, HAI-YU LI, YUN ZHANG, LEI WANG, YAO SU, and AI-JING SUN
- Subjects
- *
CARCINOGENESIS , *ROTENONE , *IMMUNOSTAINING , *TYROSINE hydroxylase - Abstract
Systemic rotenone models of Parkinson's disease (PD) are highly reproducible and may provide evidence on the pathogenesis of PD. In the present study, male Sprague-Dawley rats (1-year-old) were subcutaneously administered with rotenone (1.5 mg/kg/day) for six days and observed for the following three weeks. Compared with the control rats, a significant decrease was observed in the body weight and a marked increase was observed in the areas under the behavioral scoring curves in the rotenone-treated rats. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that the abundance of nigral tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive neurons was markedly reduced following rotenone treatment. ELISA and neurochemical assays demonstrated a significant increase in the levels of nitric oxide (NO) and NO synthase, whereas a marked decrease was observed in the thiol levels in the brains of the rotenone-treated rats. Thus, subacute rotenone treatment was found to induce behavioral deficits and the loss of nigral TH-positive neurons which may be associated with the excessive levels of NO in the rat brains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF