Impact of intravenous immunoglobulin on the dopaminergic system and immune response in the acute MPTP mouse model of Parkinson's disease

Intravenous immunoglobulin (ivig) is a blood-derived product,used for the treatment of immunodeficiency and autoimmune diseases. since a range of immunotherapies have recently been proposed as a therapeutic strategy for parkinson's disease (pd),we investigated the effects of an ivig treatment in a neurotoxin-induced animal model of pd. mice received four injections of mptp (15 mg/kg) at 2-hour intervals followed by a 14-day ivig treatment,which induced key immune-related changes such as increased regulatory t-cell population and decreased cd4+/cd8+ ratio. the mptp treatment induced significant 80% and 84% decreases of striatal dopamine concentrations (p < 0.01),as well as 33% and 40% reductions in the number of nigral dopaminergic neurons (p < 0.001) in controls and ivig-treated mice,respectively. two-way analyses of variance further revealed lower striatal tyrosine hydroxylase protein levels,striatal homovanillic acid concentrations and nigral dopaminergic neurons (p < 0.05) in ivig-treated animals. collectively,our results fail to support a neurorestorative effect of ivig on the nigrostriatal system in the mptp-treated mice and even suggest a trend toward a detrimental effect of ivig on the dopaminergic system. these preclinical data underscore the need to proceed with caution before initiating clinical trials of ivig in pd patients. © 2012 st-amour et al.; licensee biomed central ltd.