Contribution of MPTP To Research Into Parkinson's Disease
Langston et al.(1984) found that injections of MPTP in squirrel monkeys resulted in parkinsonism, symptoms of which were subsequently reduced by levodopa, a precursor for the neurotransmitter dopamine, currently the drug-of-choice in treatment of Parkinson's. The symptoms and brain structures of MPTP-induced Parkinson's are fairly indistinguishable to the point that MPTP may be used to simulate the disease in order to study Parkinson's physiology and possible treatments within the laboratory. Mouse studies have shown that susceptibility to MPTP increases with age.
Knowledge of MPTP and its use in reliably recreating Parkinson's disease in experimental models has inspired scientists to investigate the possibilities of surgically replacing neuron loss through fetal tissue implants, subthalamic electrical stimulation and stem cell research, all of which have demonstrated initial, provisional successes.
It has been postulated that Parkinson's disease may be caused by minute amounts of MPP+-like compounds from ingestion or exogenously through repeated exposure and that these substances are too minute to be detected significantly by epidemiological studies.
In 2000, another animal model for Parkinson's Disease was found. It was shown that the pesticide and insecticide rotenone causes parkinsonism in rats by killing dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Like MPP+, rotenone also interferes with complex I of the electron transport chain.
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