gms | German Medical Science

68th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)
7th Joint Meeting with the British Neurosurgical Society (SBNS)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

14 - 17 May 2017, Magdeburg

Neuronal firing activity and molecular findings in the basal ganglia after striatal transplantation of dopamine neurons in hemiparkinsonian rats

Meeting Abstract

  • Regina Rumpel - Institute of Neuroanatomy and Cell Biology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Deutschland
  • Mesbah Alam - Clinic of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Deutschland
  • Andreas Ratzka - Institute of Neuroanatomy and Cell Biology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Deutschland
  • Joachim K. Krauss - Clinic of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Deutschland
  • Claudia Grothe - Institute of Neuroanatomy and Cell Biology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Deutschland
  • Kerstin Schwabe - Clinic of Neurosurgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Deutschland

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Society of British Neurological Surgeons. 68. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC), 7. Joint Meeting mit der Society of British Neurological Surgeons (SBNS). Magdeburg, 14.-17.05.2017. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2017. DocMi.06.07

doi: 10.3205/17dgnc400, urn:nbn:de:0183-17dgnc4005

Published: June 9, 2017

© 2017 Rumpel et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Outline

Text

Objective: In Parkinson’s disease patients, as well as in the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesioned rat model, the loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons and the resulting dopamine (DA) depletion in the striatum (STR) lead to altered neuronal activity and enhanced beta activity in various regions of the basal ganglia (BG). Intrastriatal DA cell graft implantation has been shown to functionally re-innervate the host brain and restore DA input.

Methods: To further increase our understanding of neuronal activity in the BG of a grafted brain, we implanted DA cell grafts into the STR of 6-OHDA lesioned rats and examined the effect on neuronal activity of the entopeduncular nucleus (EPN, the equivalent to the human globus pallidus internus), the output nucleus of the BG, and the globus pallidus (GP, the equivalent to the human globus pallidus externus), a key region in the indirect pathway, under urethane anesthesia. In addition, we performed qRT-PCR analysis of specific GABAergic markers in the STR and both pallidal regions.

Results: Injection of DA agonists in 6-OHDA lesioned rats significantly improved the rotational behavior after DA graft implantation, which was accompanied by alleviated EPN firing rate and reinstated patterns of neuronal activity in the GP and EPN. Analysis of oscillatory activity revealed enhanced beta activity in both regions, which was reduced after grafting. While lesioned and grafted rats displayed typical gene expression changes in the STR, DA grafts also induced novel expression changes of GABAergic markers in the GP.

Conclusion: In summary, electrophysiological data indicate physiological restoration of BG towards normal activity by DA graft integration.