| pubmed-article:3489912 | pubmed:abstractText | C57 black mice were injected repeatedly with maximal tolerated doses of 4 different chemical analogues of N-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), or its metabolite N-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion (MPP+), in order to assess their possible neurotoxicity for dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons and their potential for causing idiopathic Parkinson's disease. The 4 analogues were the herbicide paraquat, reduced paraquat (having two N-methyl-tetrahydropyridine moieties), N-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline, and 2-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline, the latter two compounds being possible endogenous neurotoxins. Contents of striatal dopamine, measured by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection one month after injections were completed, were not depleted by any of these 4 compounds in mice. They might conceivably prove more neurotoxic in primates. | lld:pubmed |
