Quantification of MPTP-induced dopaminergic neurodegeneration in the mouse substantia nigra by laser capture microdissection

The neurotoxin MPTP is widely used to cause damage to the dopaminergic system in rodents and non-human primates to model various aspects of Parkinson's disease. In mice, depletion of striatal dopamine is the commonly used endpoint to assess neuronal damage. However, it has proved technically challenging to quantify dopaminergic cell bodies as an index of neuronal integrity. To meet this challenge, we applied laser pressure catapult microdissection (LCM) of the substantia nigra in combination with quantitative Western blot to provide an index of dopamine neurodegeneration in mice treated with MPTP. Seven days following initiation of MPTP treatment, striatal dopamine depletion was maximal and there was histological evidence of neuronal degeneration in the substantia nigra. To index the integrity of dopamine cell bodies, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and β-actin were quantified by Western blot in LCM extracts. In untreated mice, TH was detected in LCM extracts of substantia nigra but was undetectable in equivalently sized extracts of cortex from the same animals. In MPTP-treated mice, there was a significant 70% reduction in TH relative to β-actin in LCM extracts as compared to vehicle-injected controls. This reduction corresponded to decreases in striatal dopamine and loss of immunocytochemically detected TH but not β-actin in the substantia nigra (SN). Thus, this method provides a quantitative means to measure dopamine neuron toxicity in the substantia nigra and, as such has potential application in evaluating regimens that may be neuroprotective or neurorestorative for dopaminergic neurons.