RESUMO
Background: Autophagy is a mechanism disassembling the damaged organelles from the cell. This study attempted to examine the expression of several autophagy-related genes in Parkinson's disease [PD] rat model
Methods: The male Wistar rats were divided into three groups as control, sham, and lesion. In the latter group, the PD rat model was induced by the injection of 6-hydroxydopamine in the striatum. The behavioral test was conducted one [baseline] and four weeks after the surgery through apomorphine hydrochloride. Then the RT-PCR technique was employed to evaluate the expressions of p62/SQSTM, autophagy-related genes [ATG]5, ATG12, ATG16L1, ATG10, as well as GAPDH and LC3
Results: By injecting apomorphine, the striatal lesion group showed a significant contralateral rotation at fourth week as compared to the baseline. The examination of p62, ATG5, ATG12, ATG16L1, and LC3 expressions using RT-PCR revealed that p62, ATG5, ATG12, LC3, and ATG16L1 were expressed in the substantia nigra of PD rat model, while ATG10 was not expressed
Conclusion: ATG10 expression is necessary for the initiation of autophagy. Thus, these results show that autophagy deregulation occurs in the initiation stages of the process in the rat model of PD