The mitochondrial calcium uniporter: a new therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease-related cardiac dysfunctions?

Sudden death in a rat model of Parkinson's disease

“…However, none of the currently available animal models can completely reproduce the clinical characteristics of PD (21), although the unilateral 6-OHDA model used in the present study remains the most widely used model for experimental studies of PD in rats (22,23). Importantly, the immunohistochemical and cardiovascular data demonstrated here are consistent with previous studies of Parkinsonism in the unilateral 6-OHDA animal model of PD, suggesting that the rats were adequately lesioned (7,8,10,19,22).…”

“…These studies demonstrated that several ECG parameters reflect autonomic dysfunction or disease progression, strongly suggesting that clinicians should pay more attention to ECG abnormalities when treating patients with PD (3,(12)(13)(14). From an experimental point of view, several authors have also described cardiovascular changes in PD animals, which could be directly linked to cases of sudden death (7)(8)(9)(10). Thus, a recent study conducted by our research group showed that animals subjected to 6-OHDA showed a reduction in HR and greater variability of heartbeats using the Poincaré plot technique (10), which allows us to gain new insights into the dynamics of cardiac neural mechanisms (15).…”

“…In this context, the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) model continues to constitute a classic animal model of PD in rats that has contributed to our current knowledge about motor and biochemical dysfunctions in PD (6). Importantly, several studies have also provided significant evidence that the 6-OHDA animal model can also be used to assess cardiovascular and autonomic changes, mimicking those found in patients with PD (7)(8)(9)(10). Considering the relevance of this model, we detected a case of a Wistar rat subjected to 6-OHDA that died suddenly, and the event was recorded during routine electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring.…”

“…Another important point is that independent of the site of injection, the 6-OHDA-induced dopamine depletion appears to be a valuable model to investigate clinical PD manifestations and gain more insight into the systemic abnormalities observed in this neurodegenerative disease (7)(8)(9)(10)19,20). Both the unilateral and bilateral 6-OHDA models have their advantages and disadvantages (20,21).…”

A Link between Mitochondrial Dysregulation and Idiopathic Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Alterations in Mitochondrial Respiratory Capacity and Membrane Potential

“…Reports showed that autism was correlated with increased oxidative stress that might subsequently trigger oxidative damages, which could be involved in the pathogenesis of the disorder [5]. mtD is also implicated with other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease [6][7][8][9], and aging [10]. However, the factors that cause mtD are still unknown.…”