Title:Selecting the Best Animal Model of Parkinson’s Disease for Your Research
Purpose: Insight from in vivo PET Imaging Studies
Volume: 21
Issue: 5
Author(s): Caroline Cristiano Real, Karina Henrique Binda, Majken Borup Thomsen, Thea Pinholt Lillethorup, David James Brooks and Anne Marlene Landau*
Affiliation:
- Department of Nuclear Medicine and PET Center, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
- Translational Neuropsychiatry
Unit, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Keywords:
Animal models, Parkinson’s disease, rodent, non-human primate, minipig, alpha-synuclein, positron emission tomography, autoradiography.
Abstract: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative multisystem disorder leading
to motor and non-motor symptoms in millions of individuals. Despite intense research, there is
still no cure, and early disease biomarkers are lacking. Animal models of PD have been inspired by
basic elements of its pathogenesis, such as dopamine dysfunction, alpha-synuclein accumulation,
neuroinflammation and disruption of protein degradation, and these have been crucial for a deeper
understanding of the mechanisms of pathology, the identification of biomarkers, and evaluation of
novel therapies. Imaging biomarkers are non-invasive tools to assess disease progression and response
to therapies; their discovery and validation have been an active field of translational research.
Here, we highlight different considerations of animal models of PD that can be applied to
future research, in terms of their suitability to answer different research questions. We provide the
reader with important considerations of the best choice of model to use based on the disease features
of each model, including issues related to different species. In addition, positron emission tomography
studies conducted in PD animal models in the last 5 years are presented. With a variety
of different species, interventions and genetic information, the choice of the most appropriate model
to answer research questions can be daunting, especially since no single model recapitulates all aspects
of this complex disorder. Appropriate animal models in conjunction with in vivo molecular
imaging tools, if selected properly, can be a powerful combination for the assessment of novel therapies
and developing tools for early diagnosis.