Background and Objective: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a rather common neurological disorder in elders that is due to degeneration of dopaminergic neurons within mesencephalic substantia nigra pars compacta. With regard to protective and antioxidant effect of simvastatin, this study was conducted to evaluate its neuroprotective effect in an experimental model of PD. Materials and Methods: In thi...

Many studies have attempted to correlate changes of motor cortex activity with progression of Parkinson's disease, although results have been controversial. In the present study we used intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) combined with behavioral testing in 6-hydroxydopamine hemilesioned rats to evaluate the impact of dopamine depletion on movement representations in primary motor cortex (M1)...

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that sumanirole is a novel dopamine receptor agonist with high in vitro and in vivo selectivity for the D(2) receptor subtype. Sumanirole, (R)-5,6-dihydro-5-(methylamino)-4H-imidazo[4,5,1-ij]quinolin-2(1H)-one (Z)-2-butenedioate (1:1), is unique; it has greater than 200-fold selectivity for the D(2) receptor subtype versus the other dopamine receptor ...

Coadministration of entacapone with levodopa attenuates motor complications in experimental models of Parkinson's disease. The mechanisms underlying entacapone effects are unknown. We investigated the effect of entacapone, on: long-duration response (LDR) to levodopa, levodopa-induced postsynaptic pharmacodynamic mechanisms and molecular changes in hemiparkinsonian rats. 6-Hydroxydopamine-unila...

Background and Objective: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurological disorder due to degeneration of dopaminergic neurons within pars compacta of substantia nigra (SNC). With regard to protective effect of Malva sylvestris (MS), this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of aquaeous extract of this plant in an experimental model of PD induced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). Material...

Major limitations of adrenal medulla transplantation in animal models of Parkinson's disease have been the relatively small behavioral effects and the poor or inconsistent graft survival. Transplantation of fragments of sural nerve in combination with adrenal medulla has been reported to increase the survival of chromaffin cells in adrenal medulla grafts in primates. In the present study, the p...

Background and Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the preconditioning effect of aerobic exercise with vitamin D3 consumption on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level in the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-lesioned rat model of Parkinson’s disease. Materials and Methods: Forty-eight male rats weighing 250-300 g were randomly assigned to 6 groups: healthy control, Parkin...

The results of 3 experiments examining the influence of estrogen on the nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) system are reported. In two experiments the influence of hormonal manipulations on amphetamine (AMPH)-induced rotational behavior was investigated using rats with unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the substantia nigra. It was found that: (1) female rats in estrus make more rotations than ov...

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PURPOSE Long term L-DOPA therapy in Parkinson's disease is associated with troublesome motor fluctuations such as L -DOPA Induced dyskinesia and wearing off effect. Our recent study showed that activation of 5-HT1A receptors could improve the anti-cataleptic effect of L-DOPA in parkinsonian rats. In this study we investigated the effect of fluoxetine on anti-parkinsonian effect of L-DOPA in 6-h...