Neurodegeneration in mnd2 mutant mice is not prevented by parkin transgene.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder. The motor neuron degeneration 2 mutant (mnd2) mouse is considered to be an animal model of PD, and exhibits striatal neuron loss, severe muscle wasting, weight loss and death before 40days of age. We found for the first time that parkin expression was decreased in the mnd2 mouse brain. Since parkin is a crucial protein for PD, the neurodegenerative disorder in mnd2 mice may be caused by parkin protein loss. We therefore examined whether compensation of parkin protein prevents neurodegenerative disorders in mnd2 mice by generating parkin-transgenic (parkin-Tg) mnd2 mice. However, both parkin-Tg mnd2 mice and mnd2 mice were smaller than wild type mice. In muscle strength and survival rate, parkin-Tg mnd2 mice showed similar values to mnd2 mice. Our data suggest that repression of parkin protein does not play a major role in neurodegeneration of mnd2 mice and administration of parkin protein does not rescue mnd2 mice.
Department of Pathological Cell Biology, Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Tatsushi
T
Yoshida
Takeshi
T
Mizuta
Shigeomi
S
Shimizu
D000818:Animals; D000074923:High-Temperature Requirement A Serine Peptidase 2; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000235:genetics*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics*; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000235:genetics*
D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; C111567:parkin protein; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; D000074923:High-Temperature Requirement A Serine Peptidase 2; C000615915:Htra2 protein, mouse