Genetically engineered animal models of Parkinson’s disease: From worm to rodent

1. Eur J Neurosci. 2019 Feb;49(4):533-560. doi: 10.1111/ejn.14300. Epub 2018 Dec 27.

Genetically engineered animal models of Parkinson’s disease: From worm to rodent.

Breger LS(1), Fuzzati Armentero MT(2).

Author information:
(1)Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS UMR 5293, Centre Broca Nouvelle
Aquitaine, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux cedex, France.
(2)Laboratory of Functional Chemistry, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder characterised by
aberrant accumulation of insoluble proteins, including alpha-synuclein, and a
loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. The extended
neurodegeneration leads to a drop of striatal dopamine levels responsible for
disabling motor and non-motor impairments. Although the causes of the disease
remain unclear, it is well accepted among the scientific community that the
disorder may also have a genetic component. For that reason, the number of
genetically engineered animal models has greatly increased over the past two
decades, ranging from invertebrates to more complex organisms such as mice and
rats. This trend is growing as new genetic variants associated with the disease
are discovered. The EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research
(JPND) has promoted the creation of an online database aiming at summarising the
different features of experimental models of Parkinson’s disease. This review
discusses available genetic models of PD and the extent to which they adequately
mirror the human pathology and reflects on future development and uses of
genetically engineered experimental models for the study of PD.

© 2018 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14300
PMID: 30552719

Know more about