Gene expression data from substantia nigral regions of MPTP-intoxicated mouse brain by acupuncture

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a representative neurodegenerative disease that is characterized the death of dopamine-generating cells in the substantia nigra (SN). Acupuncture stimulations at GB34 and LR3 resulted in the enhanced survival of dopaminergic neurons in the SN in the parkinsonism animal models. SN is known as an important player in brain function, in particular, movement. Behavioral tests showed that acupuncture stimulations improved the motor dysfunction in a previous study by almost 87.7%. This study investigated the changes of gene expression profiles in the SN regions of the relatively chronic parkinsonism model and demonstrated the genes that may be related to the inhibitory effect of acupuncture on the change in gene expression in the SN induced by an 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) intoxication using a whole transcript array. We investigated gene expression profile changes in the substantia nigral region of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced parkinsonism models after acupuncture at the acupoints GB34 and LR3 C57BL/6 mice were divided into four experimental groups; ① C: Control, ② M: MPTP-treatment only, ③ MA: MPTP- and acupuncture-treatment at acupoints GB34 and LR3, ④ MNA: MPTP- and acupuncture-treatment at non-acupoints. Total RNA was isolated from two brains' substantia nigral regions of each experimental group (4 experimental group × 2 samples of each experimental group = total 8 samples).