Journal article
Effect of unilateral lesion of the nigrostriatal dopamine pathway on survival and neurochemistry of parafascicular nucleus neurons in the rat - Evaluation of time-course and LGR8 expression
K Sedaghat, DI Finkelstein, AL Gundlach
Brain Research | Published : 2009
Abstract
In Parkinson's disease (PD), the centromedian-parafascicular nucleus of the thalamus undergoes degeneration, and a similar pattern of neurodegeneration is observed in the intralaminar parafascicular nucleus (Pf) after lesions of the nigrostriatal dopamine system in rat and mouse. The receptor for insulin-like peptide-3 (INSL3) - leucine-rich repeat containing G-protein coupled receptor 8 (LGR8) - is enriched in Pf neurons and their projections to striatum and cortex in rat brain, suggesting it as a potential marker for changes in Pf neuron function in experimental models of PD. Vesicular glutamate transporter-2 (vGlut2) expression has also been shown to reflect functional alterations in thal..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia and Brain Foundation Australia. During the course of these studies K.S. was the recipient of a Melbourne Full International Scholarship from The University of Melbourne and a Nancy Frances Curry Scholarship from The University of Melbourne Faculty of Medicine, Dental and Health Sciences. A.L.G. is an NHMRC (Australia) Research Fellow. The authors wish to thank Ms Doris Tomas and Prof Malcolm Horne (Howard Florey Institute) for their assistance with the lesion experiments and comments on data analysis.