6-hydroxydopamine-induced model of Parkinson's disease

The 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) model of Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most extensively utilized animal models used to study pathogenic processes involved in neuronal loss and behavioral alterations characteristic for parkinsonism. To develop the 6-OHDA model, neurotoxin has to be injected into distinct parts of the animal nigrostriatal pathway: substantia nigra pars compacta, striatum, and medial forebrain bundle. The present review summarizes the main features of the model, its neurochemical characterization, and the mechanisms of neurotoxin-evoked neurotoxicity. Also examined in this chapter are motor impairments produced by 6-OHDA, advances in modeling additional nonmotor features of PD, such as behavioral and systemic alterations recapitulating human PD symptomatology, and advantages and shortcomings of the model. Despite limitations such as the lack of Lewy body inclusions and abrupt neurodegeneration of dopamine cells, it appears that the 6-OHDA lesion remains one of the meaningful neurotoxin models used to study neural mechanism underlying Parkinson's disease.