Anatomical projections existing from substantia nigra to nucleus of the solitary tract

• Grant number: 16/05450-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2016
• End date: March 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Pharmacology
• Principal Investigator: Ana Carolina Takakura Moreira
• Grantee: Alessandra Yuri Takehana de Andrade
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra compacta (SNc). The main symptoms of synucleinopathies could be motor as bradykinesia, postural instability, rigidity, slowness of movement and resting tremors, and non-motor symptoms, such as psychiatric, sleeping, respiratory and autonomic disorders. Recent studies in our laboratory have shown that the induction of Parkinson's disease model by bilateral injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in the caudate-putamen (CPu) of rats leads to a great reduction in the resting respiration, dysfunction of the baroreflex and an intense reduction of medullary neuronal groups involved in neural cardiorespiratory control, such as the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS).Given that and the fact that until this moment there are no data in the literature indicating the direct communication between SNc and NTS, it is important to analyze the existence of direct anatomical projections from SNc to NTS, using the injection of anterograde and retrograde tracers. After 7-10 days of injection, the animals will be sacrificed and perfused and will have their brains removed for immunohistochemical treatment for the detection of tracers and the phenotype of neurons.