Proposed Motor Scoring System in a Porcine Model of Parkinson’s Disease induced by Chronic Subcutaneous Injection of MPTP

Proposed Motor Scoring System in a Porcine Model of Parkinson’s Disease induced by Chronic Subcutaneous Injection of MPTP

Destruction of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) is a common pathophysiology of Parkinson’sdisease (PD). Characteristics of PD patients include bradykinesia, muscle rigidity, tremor at rest and disturbances in balance. Forabout four decades, PD animal models have been produced by toxin-induced or gene-modified techniques. However, in mice,none of the gene-modified models showed all 4 major criteria of PD. Moreover, distinguishing between PD model pigs and normalpigs has not been well established. Therefore, we planned to produce a pig model for PD by chronic subcutaneous administrationof 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), neurotoxin. Changes in behavioral patterns of pigs were thoroughlyevaluated and a new motor scoring system was established for this porcine model that was based on the Unified Parkinson"s DiseaseRating Scale (UPDRS) in human PD patients. In summary, this motor scoring system could be helpful to analyze the porcine PDmodel and to confirm the pathology prior to further examinations, such as positron emission tomography-computed tomography(PET-CT), which is expensive, and invasive immunohistochemistry (IHC) of the brain.

Destruction of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) is a common pathophysiology of Parkinson’sdisease (PD). Characteristics of PD patients include bradykinesia, muscle rigidity, tremor at rest and disturbances in balance. Forabout four decades, PD animal models have been produced by toxin-induced or gene-modified techniques. However, in mice,none of the gene-modified models showed all 4 major criteria of PD. Moreover, distinguishing between PD model pigs and normalpigs has not been well established. Therefore, we planned to produce a pig model for PD by chronic subcutaneous administrationof 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), neurotoxin. Changes in behavioral patterns of pigs were thoroughlyevaluated and a new motor scoring system was established for this porcine model that was based on the Unified Parkinson"s DiseaseRating Scale (UPDRS) in human PD patients. In summary, this motor scoring system could be helpful to analyze the porcine PDmodel and to confirm the pathology prior to further examinations, such as positron emission tomography-computed tomography(PET-CT), which is expensive, and invasive immunohistochemistry (IHC) of the brain.