Abstract
None of the current genetic Parkinson’s disease (PD) models in mouse recapitulates all features of PD. Additionally, only a few of these models develop mild dopamine (DA) neurodegeneration. And the most parsimonious explanation for the lack of DA neurodegeneration in genetic PD models is a compensatory mechanism that results from adaptive changes during development, making it hard to observe the degenerative phenotype over the life span of mice. Here, we characterize DA neuron-specific autophagy-deficient mice and provide in vivo evidence for Lewy body formation. Atg7-deficient mice demonstrate typical Lewy pathology, including endogenous synuclein and neuronal loss, which resembles PD. Furthermore DA levels are affected by dopaminergic neuronal loss. The age-related motor dysfunction and pathology in DA neurons suggest that impairment of autophagy is a potential mechanism underlying the pathology of PD.
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Sato, S., Hattori, N. (2018). Dopaminergic Neuron-Specific Autophagy-Deficient Mice. In: Hattori, N., Saiki, S. (eds) Mitophagy. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1759. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/7651_2018_156
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7651_2018_156
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Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-7749-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-7750-5
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