Transgenic non-human animal for use in research models for studying Parkinson's disease

Abstract

The invention relates to a transgenic mouse model with deficient respiratory chain function in dopamine (DA) neurons. By suppressing or deleting the mitochondrial transcription factor A (Tfam) in DA neurons, a mouse model is obtained, which reproduces key pathophysiological features of Parkinson's disease (PD), i.e., slow progressive loss of DA terminals in striatum and loss of DA neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta; alpha-synuclein immunoreactivity including intracellular inclusions similar to Lewy bodies in affected areas prior to and during cell loss; progressive movement disorder associated with abnormal gait, tremor and rigid limbs. The mouse model can be used to develop pharmacological, gene therapy or cell therapy treatments for PD.

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