Dopamine (DA) is a key catecholamine neurotransmitter involved in motor control, cognition, and neuroendocrine regulation. Reduced DA transmission is associated with Parkinson’s disease, depression, and anhedonia. An overexpression of the dopamine transporter in mice (DAT-tg) results in a 40% reduction in extracellular DA, and can be classified as a genetic model of hypodopaminergia. Reserpine treatment depletes extracellular DA, and is a pharmacological model of hypodopaminergia. The aim of this study was to determine morphological and proteomic changes to medium spiny neurons (MSNs), which receive dopaminergic input, as a consequence of reduced DA transmission. To achieve this, MSNs were fluorescently labelled using a diolistics method and immunofluorescence. There were no observable changes to morphology or proteomic profile of MSNs in DAT-tg animals. Reserpine treatment resulted in reduced spine density in MSNs. DAT-tg animals may present a level of DA depletion that is below the threshold to induce morphological changes to MSNs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/35586 |
| Date | 11 July 2013 |
| Creators | Bermejo, Marie Kristel |
| Contributors | Salahpour, Ali, George, Susan |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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