Temporal changes in neuroinflammation and brain glucose metabolism in a rat model of viral vector-induced α-synucleinopathy.

Rat models based on viral vector-mediated overexpression of α-synuclein are regarded as highly valuable models that closely mimic cardinal features of human Parkinson's disease (PD) such as L-DOPA-dependent motor impairment, dopaminergic neurodegeneration and α-synuclein inclusions. To date, the downstream effects of dopaminergic cell loss on brain glucose metabolism, including the neuroinflammation component, have not been phenotyped in detail for this model. Cerebral glucose metabolism was monitored throughout different stages of the disease using in vivo 2-[F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose ([F]FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) and was combined with in vitro [F]DPA-714 autoradiography to assess concomitant inflammation.