PARKIN-DEFICIENT MICE ARE A BAD MODEL OF
PARKINSONISM
Perez
and Palmiter decided to test an accepted experimental model of Parkinson’s
disease gaining surprising results (Parkin-deficient
mice are not a robust model of parkinsonism. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,
10.1073/pnas.0409598102 Published online before
print January 2005).
Mutations
in the human parkin gene cause autosomal recessive juvenile
parkinsonism, a heritable form of Parkinson’s disease.
To determine whether
mutations in the mouse parkin gene (Park2) also result
in a parkinsonian phenotype, the authors generated mice with a
targeted deletion of parkin exon 2.
The research shows that
the behavioural profile of Parkin-deficient mice was strikingly
similar to that of control mice, and most differences were not
reproducible by using co-isogenic mice. Moreover, catecholamine levels in the
striatum, olfactory bulb, and spinal cord of Parkin-deficient mice
were normal.
In contrast to previous
studies using independently generated Parkin-deficient mice, Perez
and Palmiter found no evidence for nigrostriatal, cognitive, or
noradrenergic dysfunction.