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A Computational Model of Loss of Dopaminergic Cells in Parkinson's Disease Due to Glutamate-Induced Excitotoxicity.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Muddapu, Vignayanandam Ravindernath 
Chakravarthy, V Srinivasa 
Ramaswamy, Srikanth 

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with progressive and inexorable loss of dopaminergic cells in Substantia Nigra pars compacta (SNc). Although many mechanisms have been suggested, a decisive root cause of this cell loss is unknown. A couple of the proposed mechanisms, however, show potential for the development of a novel line of PD therapeutics. One of these mechanisms is the peculiar metabolic vulnerability of SNc cells compared to other dopaminergic clusters; the other is the SubThalamic Nucleus (STN)-induced excitotoxicity in SNc. To investigate the latter hypothesis computationally, we developed a spiking neuron network-model of SNc-STN-GPe system. In the model, prolonged stimulation of SNc cells by an overactive STN leads to an increase in 'stress' variable; when the stress in a SNc neuron exceeds a stress threshold, the neuron dies. The model shows that the interaction between SNc and STN involves a positive-feedback due to which, an initial loss of SNc cells that crosses a threshold causes a runaway-effect, leading to an inexorable loss of SNc cells, strongly resembling the process of neurodegeneration. The model further suggests a link between the two aforementioned mechanisms of SNc cell loss. Our simulation results show that the excitotoxic cause of SNc cell loss might initiate by weak-excitotoxicity mediated by energy deficit, followed by strong-excitotoxicity, mediated by a disinhibited STN. A variety of conventional therapies were simulated to test their efficacy in slowing down SNc cell loss. Among them, glutamate inhibition, dopamine restoration, subthalamotomy and deep brain stimulation showed superior neuroprotective-effects in the proposed model.

Description

Keywords

Globus Pallidus externa, Izhikevich neuron model, Parkinson's disease, SubThalamic Nucleus, Substantia Nigra pars compacta, deep brain stimulation, excitotoxicity, metabolic disorders, Computer Simulation, Dopaminergic Neurons, Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists, Glutamic Acid, Humans, Models, Neurological, Parkinson Disease

Journal Title

Front Neural Circuits

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1662-5110
1662-5110

Volume Title

13

Publisher

Frontiers Media SA