Destruction of dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain by 6-hydroxydopamine decreases hippocampal cell proliferation in rats: reversal by fluoxetine

• Published in: PloS one 2010-02, Vol.5 (2), p.e9260
• Main Authors: Suzuki, Katsuaki, Okada, Kyoko, Wakuda, Tomoyasu, Shinmura, Chie, Kameno, Yosuke, Iwata, Keiko, Takahashi, Taro, Suda, Shiro, Matsuzaki, Hideo, Iwata, Yasuhide, Hashimoto, Kenji, Mori, Norio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 6-Hydroxydopamine; Adrenergic Agents - toxicity; Animal cognition; Animals; Antidepressants; Anxiety; Brain; Brain research; Cell Differentiation - drug effects; Cell growth; Cell proliferation; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Cell Survival - drug effects; Cognitive ability; Dentate gyrus; Depression (Mood disorder); Diabetes; Dopamine; Dopamine - metabolism; Dopamine receptors; Drugs; Fluoxetine; Fluoxetine - pharmacology; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein - metabolism; Hippocampus; Hippocampus - cytology; Hippocampus - drug effects; Hippocampus - metabolism; Humans; Huntingtons disease; Hydroxylase; Immunohistochemistry; Immunoreactivity; Inhibitors; Injection; Maprotiline; Maze Learning - drug effects; Medicine; Mental depression; Mental Health/Neuropsychiatric Disorders; Mental Health/Psychopharmacology; Mesencephalon; Mesencephalon - cytology; Mesencephalon - drug effects; Mesencephalon - metabolism; Methamphetamine; Motor Activity - drug effects; Movement disorders; Neostriatum; Nervous system; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neurogenesis; Neurological Disorders/Movement Disorders; Neurological Disorders/Neuropsychiatric Disorders; Neurology; Neurons; Neurons - cytology; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - metabolism; Neuroscience/Neurobiology of Disease and Regeneration; Neurotoxicity; Noradrenaline; Norepinephrine; Oxidopamine - toxicity; Parkinson disease; Parkinson's disease; Patients; Pharmacology; Psychiatry; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reduction; Rodents; Serotonin; Serotonin uptake inhibitors; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors - pharmacology; Substantia nigra; Subventricular zone; Tyrosine; Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase - metabolism
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009260

Non-motor symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety, and cognitive deficits) in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) precede the onset of the motor symptoms. Although these symptoms do not respond to pharmacological dopamine replacement therapy, their precise pathological mechanisms are currently unclear. The present study was undertaken to examine whether the unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesion to the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc), which represents a model of long-term dopaminergic neurotoxicity, could affect cell proliferation in the adult rat brain. Furthermore, we examined the effects of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine and the selective noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor maprotiline on the reduction in cell proliferation in the subgranular zone (SGZ) by the unilateral 6-OHDA lesion. A single unilateral injection of 6-OHDA into the rat SNc resulted in an almost complete loss of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity in the striatum and SNc, as well as in reductions of TH-positive cells and fibers in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). On the other hand, an injection of vehicle alone showed no overt change in TH immunoreactivity. A unilateral 6-OHDA lesion to SNc significantly decreased cell proliferation in the SGZ ipsilateral to the 6-OHDA lesion, but not in the contralateral SGZ or the subventricular zone (SVZ), of rats. Furthermore, subchronic (14 days) administration of fluoxetine (5 mg/kg/day), but not maprotiline significantly attenuated the reduction in cell proliferation in the SGZ by unilateral 6-OHDA lesion. The present study suggests that cell proliferation in the SGZ of the dentate gyrus might be, in part, under dopaminergic control by SNc and VTA, and that subchronic administration of fluoxetine reversed the reduction in cell proliferation in the SGZ by 6-OHDA. Therefore, SSRIs such as fluoxetine might be potential therapeutic drugs for non-motor symptoms as well as motor symptoms in patients with PD, which might be associated with the reduction in cell proliferation in the SGZ.