Histological Validation of Dopamine Transporter PET Images in the Rat 6-OHDA Lesion Model of Parkinson's Disease

• Published in: Journal of histotechnology 2007-06, Vol.30 (2), p.123-129
• Main Authors: Gitter, Bruce D., Horn, Jeffrey W., Brown, Jessica M., Territo, Paul R., Winkle, Wendy, Yoder, Karmen K., Hutchins, Gary D., Sterchi, Diane L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: dopamine reuptake transporters (DAT); Positron emission tomography (PET); quantitative receptor autoradiography; tyrosine hydroxylase immunohistochemistry
• ISSN: 0147-8885; 2046-0236
• DOI: 10.1179/his.2007.30.2.123

Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of dopamine reuptake transporters (DAT) in the rat 6-hydoxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesion model of Parkinson's disease (PD) is a clinically translatable biomarker that could be used in the discovery of novel, disease-modifying PD therapeutics.Careful histological validation of DAT PET images are critical steps in overcoming clinical imaging artifacts seen in PD patients undergoing dopamine replacement therapy. In this report, we describe the use of quantitative DAT autoradiography and tyrosine hydroxylase immunohistochemistry methods using adjacent cryosections to provide histological validation of DAT PET images and verify the loss of DAT binding sites with reduced survival of dopaminergic neurons in the nigrostriatal pathway. (The J Histotechnol 30:123, 2007) Submitted March 1, 2007; accepted with revisions April 3, 2007