MPTP-Treated Mice: A Useful Model for Parkinson’s Disease?

In this chapter we consider whether mice treated with MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) represent a suitable model for Parkinson’s disease (PD). We classify the disease model system as one that is capable of reproducing certain aspects of the human disease ranging from pathology to clinical symptoms. Sometimes the development of animal models also aims toward reproducing or at least understanding the etiology and/or the pathophysiology of the disease. In PD, the most apparent neuronal lesion is the degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra, which terminate in nucleus caudatus and putamen, while the classical triad of symptoms consists of rigidity, hypokinesia, and tremor. As is well known, other neuronal systems also degenerate, and the parkinsonian patient displays a number of clinical symptoms in addition to the three mentioned above.