Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 17, 2026

The 6-hydroxydopamine Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease
Published on: October 27, 2021
Preclinical models of Parkinson's disease
Krys S Bankiewicz1, Rosario Sanchez-Pernaute, Yoshitsugu Oiwa
1University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Abstract:
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder in which pigmented midbrain neurons progressively die producing a dopamine (DA) deficit in the striatum, which manifests as an akinetic movement disorder. Experimentally induced striatal DA depletion in animals is a valid model of parkinsonism. The capacity of certain substances to damage catecholaminergic neurons has been used extensively to produce DA deficiency in animals. This unit describes methods for inducing parkinsonism in nonhuman primates and rodents using the neurotoxins 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) and 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). Additionally, procedures for evaluating the animals are presented.
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