MPTP ,
1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine is commonly used to induce nigrostriatal defects to induce
parkinsonism and/or
parkinsonian syndrome , to replicate the lesions seen in
Parkinson's disease (PD), with use in numerous PD models in
mice . It has been suggested that various
biological characteristics including
strain could result in differing
mortality rates,
sensitivity to
MPTP administration , and reproducibility of lesions in
mice , but there is no evidence on the
sensitivity of C57BL/6
mice from different origins to
MPTP and its associated pathological lesions. In this study, we investigated the
magnitude of the
dose -dependent response to acute
MPTP administration in C57BL/6NKorl
mice and two commercialized C57BL/6 stocks derived from the
United States and
Japan . We measured
biological features (
body weight ,
temperature , and composition), nigrostriatal neurotoxic responses (
dopamine levels,
tyrosine hydroxylase enzymes , and
protein carbonylation ) and motor function. In results, the three different C57BL/6 stocks exhibited
similar overall neurotoxic response and locomotor impairment which increased in a
dose -dependent manner with acute
MPTP administration (10 mg/kg, 20 mg/kg, and 30 mg/kg, all with external
heat support), although some of these differences were not significant. In conclusion, this study provides scientific evidence that C57BL/6NKorl
mice can be used as an alternative
animal model for practical and targeted PD
research .