Different susceptibility to 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridium (MPP(+))-induced nigro-striatal dopaminergic cell loss between C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice is not related to the difference of monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B).

Subcutaneous and intraperitoneal administrations of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) induce selective dopaminergic (DA-ergic) neuronal death in many animal species. After passing through the blood-brain barrier (BBB), MPTP is converted to 1-methy-4-phenylpiridinium (MPP(+)) by astrocytic monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B). MPP(+) then induces the dopaminergic neuronal death. In mice, marked strain differences in the susceptibility to MPTP-injection have been reported. To clarify which factor(s) cause the strain differences, MPTP or MPP(+) was intracerebroventricularly (icv) injected into adult C57BL/6 (highly susceptible to MPTP) and BALB/c (resistant to MPTP) mice. The brain tissues including the striatum and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) were examined immunohistochemically using an antibody to tyrosine hydrocyrase (TH). MPP(+)-injected C57BL/6 mice showed a significant decrease in TH-immunopositive areas in the striatum at Day 3 post injection (p<0.01), and TH-positive cells in the SNpc at Days 1 and 3 (p<0.01), respectively, compared to saline-injected control mice. In addition, MPP(+)-injected BALB/c mice showed a significant decrease in TH-positive areas in the striatum at Days 1 and 3, and SNpc TH-positive cells in the SNpc at Day 3, respectively (p<0.05). However, the decrease rates in the BALB/c mice were lower than that in C57BL/6 mice. MPTP-injected C57BL/6 mice, however, showed no lesions in the striatum and SNpc at Days 1 and 7 after icv injection. All the present findings indicate that factors other than MAO-B can influence the strain susceptibility between C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice after the conversion from MPTP to MPP(+).