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Enhanced expression of glutamate decarboxylase 65 improves symptoms of rat parkinsonian models

Gene Therapy volume 12, pages 1215–1222 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

In this study, we report the amelioration of parkinsonian symptoms in rat Parkinson's disease (PD) models, as a result of the expression of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) 65 with a modified cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter. The transfer of the gene for gamma-amino butryic acid (GAD), the rate-limiting enzyme in gama-amino butrylic acid (GABA) production, has been investigated as a means to increase inhibitory synaptic activity. Electrophysiological evidence suggests that the transfer of the GAD65 gene to the subthalamic nucleus (STN) can change the excitatory output of this nucleus to inhibitory output. Our in vitro results also demonstrated higher GAD65 expression in cells transfected with the JDK promoter, as compared to cells transfected with the CMV promoter. Also, a rat PD model in which recombinant adeno-associated virus-2 (rAAV2)-JDK-GAD65 was delivered into the STN exhibited significant behavioral improvements, as compared to the saline-injected group. Interestingly, we observed that these behavioral improvements were more obvious in rat PD models in which rAAV2-JDK-GAD65 was injected into the STN than in rat PD models in which rAAV2-CMV-GAD65 was injected into the STN. Moreover, according to electrophysiological data, the rAAV2-JDK-GAD65-injected group exhibited more constant improvements in firing rates than did the rAAV2-CMV-GAD65-injected group. These data indicate that the JDK promoter, when coupled with GAD65 expression, is more effective with regard to parkinsonian symptoms than is the CMV promoter.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grant No. (03-PJ1-PG1-CH07-0004 & 01-PJ8-PG1-01CN02-2003) from the Korea Health 21 R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea. Thanks to Dr DK Kim at the Samsung Hospital, in Seoul, Korea, for kindly providing the pJDK plasmid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Science & Brain Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    B Lee, J H Oh, Y H Cho & J W Chang

  2. Department of Microbiology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    H Lee & Y R Nam

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  1. B Lee
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Lee, B., Lee, H., Nam, Y. et al. Enhanced expression of glutamate decarboxylase 65 improves symptoms of rat parkinsonian models. Gene Ther 12, 1215–1222 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gt.3302520

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