Department of Anatomy and Medical Imaging and Centre for Brain Research, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
The Neurogenetics Group, Centre for Brain Research and School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
J Chem Neuroanat. 2019 Apr;97:43-56. doi: 10.1016/j.jchemneu.2019.01.007. Epub 2019 Jan 18.
The substantia nigra is an integral component of the basal ganglia circuitry for limbic and motor functions. Dysfunction and degeneration of the basal ganglia are fundamental aspects of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. With the increasing use of sheep to model neurological diseases, it is crucial to understand the anatomy and neurochemistry of these key basal ganglia nuclei in the normal sheep brain and how they compare to the human brain. Therefore, studies of the gross anatomy, cellular morphology, and neurochemical expression patterns within the sheep substantia nigra were performed. We show that the sheep substantia nigra reflects all important aspects of the anatomy and neurochemistry of the human substantia nigra, with only minor inter-species differences evident. Many neurochemicals that are central to the functioning of the SN, and wider basal ganglia circuitry, are present throughout the sheep SN. In a wider context, the results of this study provide evidence that the sheep substantia nigra accurately reflects the anatomy of the human substantia nigra, which validates the use of sheep models of basal ganglia neurological disorders.
黑质是边缘和运动功能基底神经节回路的一个组成部分。基底神经节的功能障碍和退化是帕金森病和亨廷顿病等神经退行性疾病的基本方面。随着绵羊在神经疾病模型中使用的增加，了解正常绵羊大脑中这些关键基底神经节核的解剖结构和神经化学特性以及它们与人类大脑的比较至关重要。因此，对绵羊黑质的大体解剖、细胞形态和神经化学表达模式进行了研究。我们表明，绵羊黑质反映了人类黑质解剖和神经化学的所有重要方面，只有微小的种间差异。许多对 SN 和更广泛的基底神经节回路功能至关重要的神经化学物质存在于整个绵羊 SN 中。在更广泛的背景下，这项研究的结果为绵羊黑质准确反映人类黑质解剖结构提供了证据，这验证了使用绵羊基底神经节神经障碍模型的合理性。
