Comparison between Tail Suspension Swing Test and Standard Rotation Test in Revealing Early Motor Behavioral Changes and Neurodegeneration in 6-OHDA Hemiparkinsonian Rats

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 21; no. 8; p. 2874
• Main Authors: Rosa, Ilaria, Di Censo, Davide, Ranieri, Brigida, Di Giovanni, Giuseppe, Scarnati, Eugenio, Alecci, Marcello, Galante, Angelo, Florio, Tiziana Marilena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 20.04.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: 6-Hydroxydopamine; 6-OHDA; animal models of Parkinson’s disease; Animals; Apomorphine; apomorphine-induced behavior; Asymmetry; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Bias; Biomarkers; Case-Control Studies; Corpus Striatum - metabolism; Corpus Striatum - pathology; Degeneration; Disease Models, Animal; Dopamine receptors; Drug dosages; early motor behavior changes; Hindlimb Suspension; Hydroxylase; Immunohistochemistry; Lesions; Motor Activity; Neostriatum; Neurodegeneration; Neurodegenerative Diseases - etiology; Neurodegenerative Diseases - metabolism; Neurodegenerative Diseases - physiopathology; Oxidopamine - adverse effects; Parkinson Disease - etiology; Parkinson Disease - metabolism; Parkinson Disease - physiopathology; Parkinson's disease; Rats; Rotation; Substantia nigra; Substantia Nigra - metabolism; Substantia Nigra - pathology; Surgery; tail suspension swing test; Tyrosine; Tyrosine 3-monooxygenase; apomorphine-induced behavior; 6-OHDA; animal models of Parkinson’s disease; Parkinson’s disease; early motor behavior changes; tail suspension swing test
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms21082874

The unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) model of Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most commonly used in rodents. The anatomical, metabolic, and behavioral changes that occur after severe and stable 6-OHDA lesions have been extensively studied. Here, we investigated whether early motor behavioral deficits can be observed in the first week after the injection of 6-OHDA into the right substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc), and if they were indicative of the severity of the dopaminergic (DAergic) lesion in the SNc and the striatum at different time-points (day 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21). With this aim, we used our newly modified tail suspension swing test (TSST), the standard rotation test (RT), and immunohistochemical staining for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). The TSST, but not the standard RT, revealed a spontaneous motor bias for the 6-OHDA-lesioned rats from the day 1 post-surgery. Both tests detected the motor asymmetry induced by (single and repeated) apomorphine (APO) challenges that correlated, in the first week, with the DAergic neuronal degeneration. The described TSST is fast and easy to perform, and in the drug-free condition is useful for the functional assessment of early motor asymmetry appearing after the 6-OHDA-lesion in the SNc, without the confounding effect of APO challenges.