Early prenatal exposure to MPTP does not affect nigrostrial neurons in macaque monkey. Issue 2 (4th December 2015) - Bourdenx, Mathieu
ABSTRACT: The discovery of 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1, 2, 3, 6‐tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), a toxin that induces parkinsonism in both human and primate, has prompted the search for environmental toxins potentially responsible for idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). The present study reports the ultimate effects of MPTP intoxication of a female macaque monkey, which unraveled to be pregnant after parkinsonism had developed, upon its fetus. Detailed examination of the offpsring nigrostriatal pathway showed that tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity in caudate‐putamen nuclei and substantia nigra compacta (SNc) was not different from an age‐matched control. Biochemical analysis of the tissue content of dopaminergic markers further suggested modification of metabolism in the MPTP‐exposed monkey. These data suggest that early prenatal intoxication does not destroy nigrostriatal neurons, most likely because dopamine neurons had not developed yet when exposed to MPTP.Synapse 70:52–56, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Abstract : Early gestational exposure to the parkinsonian neurotoxin, 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1, 2, 3, 6‐tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), does not induce degeneration of the nigrostriatal pathway neither at the fiber level nor at the cell body level in the foetus, although the mother unraveled parkinsonism. The absence of effect is mostly attributable to the fact that dopaminergic neurons were not developed at the time of the insult.