title: Establishment of a survival and toxic cellular model for Parkinson's disease from chicken mesencephalon.
abstract: Cellular models for Parkinson's disease (PD) represent a fast and efficient tool in the screening for drug candidates and factors involved in the disease pathogenesis. The objective of this study was to establish and characterize a survival and toxic cellular model for PD by culturing dopaminergic neurons from embryonic chicken ventral midbrain. We show that as in rodents, the common neurotrophic factors--brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2)--are able to support the survival of chicken midbrain dopaminergic neurons. Furthermore, after treatment with MPP⁺ or rotenone as in vitro models for PD, the number of tyrosine hydroxylase-positive cells decreased drastically. This effect could be significantly rescued by treatment with BDNF or GDNF. Together, our results indicate that mechanisms of neuroprotection of dopaminergic neurons are conserved between chicken and mammals. This supports the use of primary culture from chicken embryonic midbrain as a suitable tool for the study of neuroprotection in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Embryology, Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Freiburg, Albertstrasse 17, 79104 Freiburg, Germany. amparo.tolosa@anat.uni-freiburg.de
authors.forename: Amparo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tolosa
authors.forename: Xiaolai
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Spittau
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krieglstein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002642:Chick Embryo; D002645:Chickens; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology*; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D012402:Rotenone / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D012402:Rotenone