title: New animal models of Parkinson's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder mainly characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra pars compacta and the presence, in the affected brain regions, of protein inclusions named Lewy Bodies. Despite the fact that numerous mutations causing hereditary forms of Parkinson's disease have been identified in the last decade, current transgenic animal models do not adequately reproduce cardinal features of the human disease. Altogether, the animal models derived of human mutations indicate that the nigrostriatal degenerative process results from the combination of several mechanisms that implicate mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative damage, and protein degradation impairment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We performed a literature search between 2008 and 2010.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The absence of adequate in vivo experimental models of Parkinson's disease has severe repercussions for therapeutic intervention success for this incurable neurodegenerative disorder. The present nonexhaustive review looks at invertebrate and mammalian models of Parkinson's disease generated in the last three years.
authors: Université Victor Ségalen-Bordeaux II, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Bordeaux, France. benjamin.dehay@u-bordeaux2.fr
authors: Benjamin
authors: B
authors: Dehay
authors: Erwan
authors: E
authors: Bezard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000235:genetics