[Expression of foreign tyrosine hydroxylase gene in the rat model of Parkinson's disease].

A total of 75 adult rats were used to produce hemiparkinson's disease (PD) model by unilateral injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the right substantial nigra. Four weeks following the lesions, rats were tested for apomorphine (APO) -induced asymmetric rotation. Only rats that showed more than seven turns per minute were selected as PD models for transplantation. A tyrosine hydroxylase expression plasmid (pSVK3-TH) mixed with lipofectin was transplanted into the right striatum of 15 PD rats. Another 20 PD rats transplanted either with lipofectin or with pSVK3-TH served as controls. Every three days following transplantation, the performance of asymmetric rotation were tested and stained with the TH-immunohistochemistry. Only the animals grafted with pSVK3-TH mixed with lipofectin were found to show the decreased rotational behavior and a few TH-positive cells in the right striatum at the postgraft day 3-12, but not day 18. The results indicate that there exists a correlation between amelioration of asymmetric rotation and the TH gene expression in the denervated striatum. It is suggested that the lipofectin may mediate foreign TH gene expression in the PD rat brain.