title: 3-Acetylpyridine-induced degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopamine system: an animal model of olivopontocerebellar atrophy-associated parkinsonism.
abstract: The effects of 3-acetylpyridine (3-AP) administration to rats on the mesotelencephalic dopamine system were assessed. A single 3-AP injection resulted in biochemical and immunohistochemical evidence of degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopamine system. Six weeks after 3-AP treatment decreases in both striatal dopamine content and the activity of the catecholamine biosynthetic enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase were observed. Immunohistochemical examination suggested a decreased density of striatal tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive fibers and revealed the emergence of a distinctly patchy organization of the dopamine innervation to the dorsolateral striatum. While 3-AP administration resulted in biochemical and anatomical data consistent with the degeneration of nigrostriatal dopamine fibers, no significant changes in dopamine content or the density or pattern of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive fibers in the anteromedial prefrontal cortex or nucleus accumbens were seen. These data suggest that 3-AP administration may result in a relatively specific degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopamine system. Since 3-AP causes both a profound loss of the climbing fiber input to the cerebellum derived from the inferior olivary nucleus, and the degeneration of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons, 3-AP administration may provide a useful model of olivopontocerebellar atrophy-associated parkinsonism. Moreover, the differences in the neurotoxicity caused by 3-AP and that elicited by another pyridine which causes striatal dopamine depletion (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine, MPTP) may offer important insights into the mechanisms of both species- and site-specific pyridine neurotoxins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06508.
authors.forename: A Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Deutch
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Rosin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Roth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009410:Nerve Degeneration; D009849:Olivopontocerebellar Atrophies / Q000150:complications*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications*; D011725:Pyridines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013132:Spinocerebellar Degenerations / Q000150:complications*; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011725:Pyridines; C010835:3-acetylpyridine; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; D004298:Dopamine