Improvement of neurological dysfunctions in aphakia mice, a model of Parkinson's disease, after transplantation of ES cell-derived dopaminergic neuronal precursors.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by selective death of the substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons, and previously we have shown that aphakia mice, which harbor spontaneous Pitx3 gene mutation, show specific degeneration of the substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons accompanied by behavioral deficits that is reversed by L-DOPA treatment or transplantation of dopaminergic neural precursors. Here, we describe transplantation of dopaminergic neural precursors to a mouse model of PD, an aphakia mouse, followed by behavioral analyses of transplanted mice.