Abstract
Vulnerability of midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the weaver mouse was studied at postnatal (P) days 8 and 90, in chosen coronal levels throughout the anteroposterior (AP) extent of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). Wild-type (+/+) and homozygous weaver (wv/wv) mice used were the offspring of pregnant dams injected in several cases with tritiated thymidine on embryonic days 11-15. DA neurons were identified for their tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity. Data reveal that at P8, the frequency of both +/+ and wv/wv late-generated DA cells increases from rostral to caudal SNc. No apparent DA-cell loss was observed at P8 in the mutant genotype, irrespective of the AP level considered. However, throughout the AP, there was a significant reduction in the number of these neurons at any level in 90-day-old weavers. Comparison of P8 and P90 +/+ SNc suggests that cell death is not a major aspect in the developmental regulation of normal DA neurons, although numerical cell depletion in the postnatal development of weaver SNc probably results from the amplification of a basal cell-death process, which affected all the coronal levels studied. © 2009 by Polish Neuroscience Society - PTBUN, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 198-206 |
Journal | Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis |
Volume | 69 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2009 |
Keywords
- Autoradiography
- Dopaminergic neurons
- Homozygous weaver mice
- Substantia nigra pars compacta
- Tritiated thymidine
- Tyrosine hydroxylase