Immunological therapeutic effects of optimized DNA vaccines on striatal nerve terminal of Parkinson's disease mice

To investigate the immunological therapeutic effects of optimized DNA vaccines(pVAX1-IL-4/ SYN-B) on striatal nerve terminal of Parkinson's disease(PD) mice, C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into four groups: normal control group, PBS model group, empty plasmid model group, and optimized DNA vaccine model group. PD model of C57BL/6 mice was constructed by intraperitoneal injection of MPTP solution, while normal control group received the same volume of PBS. Two days after the last administration, the anterior tibial muscles of mouse hind leg were respectively injected with 100 μl of PBS, PBS, empty plasmid, and pVAX1-IL-4/SYN-B unilaterally, total for three times at two weeks interval. Two weeks after the last injection, the behavioral changes were recorded, and the tyrosine hydroxylase(TH) and synaptophysin(SYP) expression in striatum of mice were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. We found that animals in the optimized DNA vaccine model group showed significant improvements in average ambulation grids(P 0.05), and the loss of TH and SYP alleviated significantly comparing with that of the PBS model group and/or empty plasmid model group(P 0.05). The result indicated that optimized DNA vaccine has immunological therapeutic effects on striatal nerve terminal of MPTPinduced chronic Parkinson's disease mice.