title: A potential target for the treatment of Parkinson's disease: effect of lateral habenula lesions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder that is caused predominantly by the degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway. Lateral habenula (LHb) has efferent projections that terminate in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and electrical stimulation of the LHb effectively suppresses the activity of dopamine-containing neurons in the SNpc. This study was aimed to investigate whether LHb lesions can ameliorate the syndromes of PD via affecting the activities of SNpc neurons in 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced PD model rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Concentrations of dopamine (DA) and its metabolites dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) and homovanillic acid (HVA) in the striatum, which is the area projected by the SNpc dopaminergic neurons were assayed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with fluorescence detection. The immunohistochemical method was applied to detect the numbers of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive cells in the substantia nigra.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that LHb lesions induced a significant reduction in apomorphine-induced rotational behavior. The DA, DOPAC and HVA levels in the striatum of PD model rats were increased by the LHb lesions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Therefore, we speculate that the LHb lesions induced a significant amelioration in motor disorders via increasing the DA levels in the striatum, which may lead to a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of PD.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Center, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China; Department of Physiology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.
authors.forename: Hui Juan
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Center, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.
authors.forename: Mei Ying
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Yantai University, Yantai, China.
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Center, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China; Department of Physiology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China. Electronic address: zhua@jlu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D015102:3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D018663:Adrenergic Agents / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D001058:Apomorphine; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D018491:Dopamine Agonists; D019262:Habenula / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006719:Homovanillic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008474:Medial Forebrain Bundle / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000379:methods; D016627:Oxidopamine / Q000633:toxicity; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018663:Adrenergic Agents; D018491:Dopamine Agonists; D015102:3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid; D016627:Oxidopamine; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; D001058:Apomorphine; D004298:Dopamine; D006719:Homovanillic Acid
keywords: Dopamine; Lateral habenula; Parkinson's disease; Striatum; Substantia nigra pars compacta