title: Cellular models for Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Developing new therapeutic strategies for Parkinson's disease requires cellular models. Current models reproduce the two most salient changes found in the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease: The degeneration of dopaminergic neurons and the existence of protein aggregates consisting mainly of α-synuclein. Cultured cells offer many advantages over studying Parkinson's disease directly in patients or in animal models. At the same time, the choice of a specific cellular model entails the requirement to focus on one aspect of the disease while ignoring others. This article is intended for researchers planning to use cellular models for their studies. It describes for commonly used cell types the aspects of Parkinson's disease they model along with technical advantages and disadvantages. It might also be helpful for researchers from other fields consulting literature on cellular models of Parkinson's disease. Important models for the study of dopaminergic neuron degeneration include Lund human mesencephalic cells and primary neurons, and a case is made for the use of non-dopaminergic cells to model pathogenesis of non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease. With regard to α-synuclein aggregates, this article describes strategies to induce and measure aggregates with a focus on fluorescent techniques. Cellular models reproduce the two most salient changes of Parkinson's disease, the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons and the existence of α-synuclein aggregates. This article is intended for researchers planning to use cellular models for their studies. It describes for commonly used cell types and treatments the aspects of Parkinson's disease they model along with technical advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, this article describes strategies to induce and measure aggregates with a focus on fluorescent techniques. This article is part of a special issue on Parkinson disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, RWTH University Aachen, Aachen, Germany. bfalkenburger@ukaachen.de.|JARA - Translational Brain Medicine, Jülich and Aachen, Germany. bfalkenburger@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: Björn H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Falkenburger
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, RWTH University Aachen, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Theodora
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saridaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, RWTH University Aachen, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dinter
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D059290:Dopaminergic Neurons / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D051844:alpha-Synuclein
keywords: Dementia with Lewy bodies; FRET; non-motor symptoms