Neurotrophic Response to CNS Degeneration or Injury: Effects of Aging

摘要

The etiology of Parkinson's disease is not known and may be related to several factors which include inheritable mutations (genetic), exposure to environmental toxins, and/or traumatic head injury. Our current research examines age-related changes in neurotrophic factor expression in Brown Norway Fischer 344 F4 hybrid (F344BNFI) rats, and we have preliminary evidence that the young and aged nigrostriatal system responds differently to neurotoxic insult or mechanical injury, i.e., young rats show a tendency to increase neurotrophic factor expression while aged rats do not. This is an important finding in the sense that the success of new therapies utilizing embryonic neurons or stem cells may be dependent on how well the implanted cells interact with the host neurotrophic environment. The studies proposed in this research project will further characterize the temporal expression of neurotrophic markers before and after neurotoxic insult or mechanical injury to the nigrostriatal system in young, middle-age, and old F344BNFI rats. The second part of this project will demonstrate that age differences in compensatory neurotrophic mechanisms that occur in the nigrostriatal system have a direct impact on the success of embryonic neurons implanted into the injured or denervated striatum.