EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF AGING ON RESPIRATORY CHANGES PRESENT IN A MURINE MODEL OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE

• Grant number: 24/02005-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - General Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Ana Carolina Takakura Moreira
• Grantee: Tainá Oliveira Macedo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the Substantia Nigra (SN) and the presence of classic motor symptoms. However, in PD, there are also other symptoms, and among them, we have respiratory changes that result from degeneration occurring in neural groups involved in the control of breathing, such as the preBötzinger Complex (preBötC) and the Retrotrapezoid Nucleus (RTN).Aging is a risk factor for several neurodegenerative diseases, and the aged brain exhibits physiological and molecular characteristics directly associated with these diseases, such as neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, increased oxidative stress, decreased neuroplasticity, changes in neuronal circuits and in the physical structure of neurons. Knowing this, the objective of this project is to investigate whether respiratory disorders, already well-characterized in animal models of PD performed in adults, will be further impaired in an aged animal that will have the PD model induced by bilateral injection of 6-hydroxydopamine into the striatum. For this purpose, we will use mice aged 18 months and older and mice with early aging.