Nigral degeneration correlates with persistent activation of cerebellar Purkinje cells in MPTP-treated monkeys

Paola Heman^1,3, Carlos Barcia^1,2, Aurora Gómez^1,2, Carmen M. Ros^1,2, Francisco Ros-Bernal^1,2, José Enrique Yuste^1,2, Vicente de Pablos^1,2, Emiliano Fernandez-Villalba^1,2, María Rebeca Toledo-Cárdenas³ and María Trinidad Herrero<sup>1,2

1</sup>Clinical and Experimental Neuroscience, ²Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), School of Medicine, Murcia, Spain and ³Programa de Neurobiología, Instituto de Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, México.

Offprint requests to: Dra. María-Trinidad Herrero, Clinical and Experimental Neuroscience (NiCE-CIBERNED), Department of Human Anatomy and Psychobiology, School of Medicine, Campus de Espinardo, University of Murcia, 30071 Murcia, Spain. e-mail: mtherrer@um.es


Summary. In the present work we analyze the cerebellum of chronic parkinsonian monkeys in order to clarify whether chronic mesencephalic depletion is associated with long term activation of the cerebellar neurons in chronic Parkinsonism. In our study, we observed a persistent activation of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum of chronic parkinsonian macaques, characterized by the expression of c-Fos, which correlated with dopaminergic degeneration. These results are compatible with the results observed in fMRI in Parkinson’s disease patients, and may contribute to the understanding of additional alterations in the brain circuitry in Parkinsonism. Histol Histopathol 27, 89-94 (2012)

Key words: Parkinson’s disease, Cerebellum, MPTP, Purkinje cells, c-Fos

DOI: 10.14670/HH-27.89