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Morphologic and functional changes in the unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesion rat model for Parkinson’s disease discerned with μSPECT and quantitative MRI

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Abstract

Object

In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the impact of neurodegeneration of the nigrostriatal tract in a rodent model of Parkinson’s disease on the different MR contrasts (T2, T1, CBF and CBV) measured in the striatum.

Material and methods

Animals were injected with 6-hydroxydopamine (6OHDA) in the substantia nigra resulting in massive loss of nigrostriatal neurons and hence dopamine depletion in the ipsilateral striatum. Using 7T MRI imaging, we have quantified T2, T1, CBF and CBV in the striata of 6OHDA and control rats. To validate the lesion size, behavioral testing, dopamine transporter μSPECT and tyrosine hydroxylase staining were performed.

Results

No significant differences were demonstrated in the absolute MRI values between 6OHDA animals and controls; however, 6OHDA animals showed significant striatal asymmetry for all MRI parameters in contrast to controls.

Conclusions

These PD-related asymmetry ratios might be the result of counteracting changes in both intact and affected striatum and allowed us to diagnose PD lesions. As lateralization is known to occur also in PD patients and might be expected in transgenic PD models as well, we propose that MR-derived asymmetry ratios in the striatum might be a useful tool for in vivo phenotyping of animal models of PD.

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Abbreviations

6OHDA:

6-Hydroxydopamine

CBF:

Cerebral blood flow

CBV:

Cerebral blood volume

DA:

Dopamine

DAT:

Dopamine transporter

FOV:

Field of view

PD:

Parkinson’s disease

ROI:

Region of interest

SN:

Substantia nigra

VOI:

Volume of interest

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bio-Imaging Lab, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020, Antwerp, Belgium

    Nadja Van Camp, Ruth Vreys, Marleen Verhoye & Annemie Van der Linden

  2. Division of Nuclear Medicine and MoSAIC, University Hospital Leuven and K.U. Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Koen Van Laere, Dirk Beque, Cindy Casteels, Luc Mortelmans & Johan Nuyts

  3. Laboratory for Neurobiology and Gene Therapy, Leuven, Belgium

    Erwin Lauwers & Veerle Baekelandt

  4. Visielab, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Marleen Verhoye & Jan Sijbers

  5. Laboratory for Radiopharmacy, K.U. Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Alfons Verbruggen

  6. Laboratory for Molecular Virology and Gene therapy, Division of Molecular Medicine, Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, K.U. Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Zeger Debyser

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  1. Nadja Van Camp
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Correspondence to Nadja Van Camp.

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Van Camp, N., Vreys, R., Van Laere, K. et al. Morphologic and functional changes in the unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesion rat model for Parkinson’s disease discerned with μSPECT and quantitative MRI. Magn Reson Mater Phy 23, 65–75 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-010-0198-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-010-0198-7

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