There are several neurotoxin-related animal models of PD which mimic the nigrostriatal DA cell loss characteristic of the disease process, including nigrostriatal lesions with the neurotoxin, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), and peripheral injection of N-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) or rotenone. Such models have been used extensively to investigate the motor symptoms of PD since the 1970s. For example,
Tadaiesky and colleagues (2008) observed that partial, bilateral 6-OHDA lesions induced symptoms of depression and anxiety using several well established behavioral measures (depression: forced swim test, sucrose consumption; anxiety: elevated plus maze; see also
Branchi et al., 2008). Though no studies have investigated the effects of MPTP administration in non-human primates on affect, MPTP-treated mice show profound increases in immobility in the tail-suspension test, a sensitive behavioral measure of depression-like symptoms (
Mori et al., 2005; but see
Vuckovic et al., 2008).
In addition, genetic mouse models have more recently been developed which address abnormalities associated with familial PD, including mutations in Parkin, PINK1, and DJ1. Though research on the affective symptoms induced within these models has been scarce, a few studies have reported anxiety and depression symptoms. For instance, Zhu and colleagues (2007) reported increased anxiety-like behavior in open field and light-dark box in Parkin null mice, though the effects on anxiety in a mouse model which overexpressed A53T synuclein were contradictory (George et al., 2008). In a novel vesicular monoamine transporter-2 (VMAT-2) deficient mouse model of PD, mice displayed enhanced anxiety and depression-like behaviors, which became more severe with advancing age (
Taylor et al., 2009).
As in the human clinical literature, the effect of L-DOPA on affective symptoms is equally unclear in animal models. While chronic L-DOPA treatment in intact rats has been shown to increase immobility in the forced swim test (
Borah & Mohanakumar, 2007), only two studies have attempted to address the effects of L-DOPA treatment on affective symptoms in animal models of PD.
Winter and colleagues (2007) observed an increase in learned helplessness behaviors in rats following unilateral 6-OHDA lesions of the substantia nigra pars compacta, which was partially alleviated by acute L-DOPA treatment. In contrast, no benefits of chronic L-DOPA treatment in unilateral, 6-OHDA-lesioned rats were imbued in several measures of anxiety and depression in our laboratory, though mild anxiogenic effects of L-DOPA were detected (
Eskow Jaunarajs et al., in press).
The utility of animal models to study affective disorders in PD is evident, since such research allows for precise control over L-DOPA dosage, DA depletion, genetic variability, and countless other variables that are a challenge to human PD research. However, an additional value of animal models is the multiple methods available to assess the behavioral, neurophysiological, and neurochemical effects of both DA cell loss and subsequent L-DOPA therapy. In fact, recent research using 6-OHDA-lesioned rats has hinted that L-DOPA treatment perturbs monoaminergic systems and could induce the development of affective disorders (
Eskow Jaunarajs et al., in press;
Navailles et al., 2010a,
2010b).