Neurotoxin-Induced Parkinson's Disease Model in Mice

Twelve-week-old C57 male mice were selected for model establishment. Mice were anesthetized with a 2,2,2-tribromoethanol solution before injection with 6-hydroxydopamine (3.3 μg/μl) using a stereotaxic apparatus. Injections were performed at the following two coordinates: anteroposterior (AP), 0.3 mm; mediolateral (ML), −2.2 mm; dorsoventral (DV), −3 mm; AP, 1.1 mm; ML, −1.7 mm; DV, −2.9 mm. The 6-hydroxydopamine solution (2 μl) was injected at each point and the needle was left in place for 5 min to promote drug absorption and prevent reflux. Then, 20,000 IU penicillin was injected for the first 3 days after the operation to prevent surgical infection. One week after surgery, mice received an i.p. injection of apomorphine (0.5 mg/kg). After 5 min of acclimatization, rotational data were continuously recorded for 30 min and the number of revolutions of more than seven circles per minute was considered to be successful model establishment (Pan et al., 2015 (link); Niu et al., 2018 (link); Chen et al., 2020 (link)). Additionally, western blotting (Tyrosine Hydroxylase, Abcam, ab75875) (Henriques et al., 2020 (link)), HE staining, immunohistochemistry (Tyrosine Hydroxylase, Abcam, ab137869) (Sun et al., 2021b (link)), and Nissl staining were used to verify the reliability of the model.