A NOVEL MPTP PRIMATE MODEL OF PARKINSONS-DISEASE - NEUROCHEMICAL AND CLINICAL CHANGES

Positron emission tomography (PET) and the dopamine (DA) metabolism tr acer, [F-18]6-fluoro-L-m-tyrosine (FMT) were used to evaluate the rela tionship between DA metabolism and the clinical stage of parkinsonism monkeys following either unilateral ICA MPTP infusion or unilateral IC A MPTP infusion and subsequent varying sequential systemic doses of MP TP. Clinical stage corresponded to PET measures of striatal DA metabol ism, showing the usefulness of the overlesioned hemiparkinsonian monke y as a stable model of various stages of Parkinson's disease (PD). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.