Animal models of synucleinopathies and how they could impact future drug discovery and delivery efforts.
Introduction: Ample efforts have been carried out to develop efficient disease-modifying drugs of Parkinson's disease and related synucleinopathies. At present, the available animal models appropriate for drug development and delivery for these hitherto incurable disorders are limited. Areas covered: The author, herein, provides their perspectives on classical toxin-based animal models, which have provided some insight into their clinical picture and complex pathogenesis. They also discuss generic and virus-induced models and more recent αSyn transmitter models that reproduce essential clinical and morphological aspects but do not fully replicate the whole spectrum of the human diseases. Yet, these models have, however, provided new insights into the pathogenesis of these disorders. Expert opinion: The recent development of transgenic viral vector-induced αSyn inoculation models and those using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in rodents, non-human primates and (rare) primates, reproducing many but not all aspects of the human synucleinopathies and their complex pathogenesis opened the door for the development of successful drugs. Despite these limits, a remarkable amount of work has already been done. However, further attention should be focused on the development of new models to enable better insight into the pathology of these proteinopathies as the basis for the future development of real disease-modifying or even preventive modalities.
PubMed Abstracts
PubMed Abstracts