title: Behavioural and morphological changes following treatment with GM-1 ganglioside of rats with an electrolytic lesion of the substantia nigra.
abstract: The effects of daily treatment with GM-1 ganglioside (30 mg/kg i.p.) or saline (1 ml/kg i.p.) in rats with discrete unilateral electrolytic lesions of the dorsal substantia nigra were investigated. Treatment with GM-1 ganglioside, beginning 3 days prior to surgery and continuing for 33 days post-operatively, caused reductions in the total ipsilateral turns and peak turning rates induced by apomorphine (0.75 mg/kg s.c.) between 7 and 31 days post-operatively, without altering the time course of the effect of apomorphine. No effects of GM-1 on lesion-induced changes in synaptosomal uptake of [3H]dopamine, dopamine, serotonin in the striatum or corresponding levels of metabolites were found. Treatment with GM-1 ganglioside had no effect on the rostrocaudal extent of the electrolytic lesion, but caused morphological changes at the site of the lesion, including a reduction in the density of glial cells. Treatment with GM-1 ganglioside resulted in a relative preservation of cell bodies, staining immunocytochemically for tyrosine hydroxylase, in the substantia nigra pars compacta (expressed as a percentage of the intact side), when compared with saline-treated rats. The results showed that GM-1 ganglioside promoted a partial functional recovery from apomorphine-induced circling, which may be due in part to a reduction in the extent of damage at the lesion site.
authors.affiliation: MRC Movement Disorders Research Group, University Department of Neurology, Denmark Hill, London, U.K.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jenner
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Marsden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001058:Apomorphine / Q000494:pharmacology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D001679:Biogenic Amines / Q000378:metabolism; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000187:drug effects; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001679:Biogenic Amines; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; D001058:Apomorphine; D004298:Dopamine