Research

In the dorsal striatum, the electrophysiological signatures of the symptomatic period of Parkinson’s disease in the 6-hydroxydopamine mouse model, such as the dysfunction of the striatum interneurons which use GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) as the only neurotransmitter (Dehorter et al, 2009), or as a co-neurotransmitter with acetylcholine (Lozovaya et al, 2018) are already present in the asymptomatic period of the disease, 6 to 9 months before the first motor signs, in the genetic model PINK1^-/- mouse (Dehorter et al, 2012).

Similarly, The expression of glutamate NMDA receptor subunits is disturbed in dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra in the perinatal period, in the PINK1^-/- mouse model of Parkinson’s disease (Ferrari et al, 2012, Pearlstein et al, 2015, 2016) and the change of polarity of GABA action in newborn hippocampal neurons is absent in the mouse genetic model (MeCP2) of Rett syndrome (Lozovaya et al, 2019).