Yoshihisa Kitamura (1,#), Yasuko Kohno (2), Minako Nakazawa (1) and Yasuyuki Nomura (1,3,*)
(1) Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060, Japan
(2) Product Management Department, Marketing Division, Nippon Boehringer
Ingelheim Co., Ltd., Kawanishi, Hyogo 666-01, Japan
(3) Department of Neuroscience, Research Institute for Oriental Medicine,
Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Toyama 930-01, Japan
(#) Present address: Department of Neurobiology, Kyoto Pharmaceutical University,
Misasagi, Yamashina-ku, Kyoto 607, Japan
(*) To whom correspondence should be addressed (1).
Abstract: We have investigated the effects of two novel antiparkinsonian drugs, talipexole (Domin(R)) and pramipexole, on MPTP-induced dopamine (DA) reduction in the striatum of C57BL/6N mice in comparison with those of bromocriptine. Fifteen days after MPTP treatment (25 mg/kg, i.p., given daily for 5 days), the DA content in the striatum was decreased to 40 - 60% of the control value. Among the three dopamine receptor agonists, talipexole and pramipexole (1 mg/kg, i.p., once a day for 20 days) more significantly suppressed the MPTP-induced DA reduction in the striatum than bromocriptine (10 mg/kg, i.p., once a day for 20 days). Talipexole did not influence [3H]MPP+ uptake into striatal synaptosomes. These results suggest that talipexole and pramipexole have a protective effect against MPTP-induced DA reduction in the striatum of C57BL/6N mice.
Keywords: Talipexole, Pramipexole, Antiparkinsonian drug, Neuroprotective effect, MPTP