title: Development and characterization of a new Parkinson's disease model resulting from impaired autophagy.
abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. However, the etiology of PD remains largely unknown. Macroautophagy is known to play an essential role in the degradation of abnormal proteins and organelles. Furthermore, the loss of autophagy-related (Atg) genes results in neurodegeneration and abnormal protein accumulation. Since these are also pathologic features of Parkinson's disease, the conditional impairment of autophagy may lead to improved animal models for the study of PD. Using transgenic mice expressing Cre recombinase under the control of either the dopamine transporter or the engrailed-1 promoters, we generated mice with the conditional deletion of Atg7 in the dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta, other regions of the midbrain, and also the hindbrain. This conditional impairment of autophagy results in the age-related loss of dopaminergic neurons and corresponding loss of striatal dopamine, the accumulation of low-molecular-weight α-synuclein, and the presence of ubiquitinated protein aggregates, recapitulating many of the pathologic features of PD. These conditional knock-out animals provide insight into the process of autophagy in Parkinson's disease pathology.
authors.affiliation: NeuroRegeneration and Stem Cell Programs, Institute for Cell Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
authors.forename: Ishrat
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Yideng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Sabitha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schools
authors.forename: Valina L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.forename: Ted M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Savitt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy / Q000502:physiology*; D000071193:Autophagy-Related Protein 7; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002452:Cell Count; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D059290:Dopaminergic Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D000072159:Dynactin Complex; D004563:Electrochemistry; D017353:Gene Deletion; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017072:Neostriatum / Q000378:metabolism; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000378:metabolism; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D025821:Polyubiquitin / Q000378:metabolism; D025801:Ubiquitin / Q000378:metabolism; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C502661:Atg7 protein, mouse; D000072159:Dynactin Complex; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents; D025801:Ubiquitin; D051844:alpha-Synuclein; D025821:Polyubiquitin; D000071193:Autophagy-Related Protein 7; D004298:Dopamine