title: Protection of nigral cell death by bilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation.
abstract: In Parkinson disease (PD), the subthalamic nucleus (STN) becomes hyperactive (disinhibited), which is reported to cause excitotoxic damage to midbrain dopaminergic neurons. Here, we examined whether silencing of the hyperactive STN by chronic bilateral deep brain stimulation (DBS) increased the survival of midbrain dopaminergic neurons in a rat model of PD. High-precision design-based stereologic examination of the total number of neurons and tyrosine tydroxylase (TH) immunoreactive neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta revealed that STN DBS resulted in a significant survival of these neurons. These data provide the first evidence in vivo that bilateral STN DBS is useful for protecting midbrain dopaminergic neurons from cell death in PD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Division of Cellular Neurosciences, Maastricht University, and Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands. y.temel@np.unimaas.nl
authors.forename: Yasin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Temel
authors.forename: Veerle
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Visser-Vandewalle
authors.forename: Süleyman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: Ramazan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kozan
authors.forename: Marc A R C
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Daemen
authors.forename: Arjan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blokland
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: Harry W M
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Steinbusch
mesh_terms: D018663:Adrenergic Agents / Q000633:toxicity; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D016627:Oxidopamine / Q000633:toxicity; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000166:cytology*; D020531:Subthalamic Nucleus / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018663:Adrenergic Agents; D016627:Oxidopamine; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase