Dopaminergic Neuron Transplantation in the Weaver Mouse Model of Parkinson’s Disease (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 517)

This book is the culmination of fifteen years of research on the transplantation of dopaminergic neurons in the striatum of the weaver mouse (wv/wv), a neurological mutant characterized by genetically-determined degeneration of midbrain dopamine neurons. This mutant constitutes the only available laboratory model with a chronic disorder that mimics Parkinson's disease. Structural and functional aspects of intrastriatal mesencephalic neuron grafting into the weaver model are reviewed, including histochemical correlates of graft survival and integration, numerical aspects of donor cell survival, ultrastructural findings on synaptogenesis, neurochemical indices of dopamine uptake and receptor binding, gene expression of structural and neurotransmitter-receptor related molecules, levels of striatal amino acid receptors, and behavioural effects of unilateral and bilateral neuronal transplantations.