Objective: To characterise the mechanical and thermal thresholds in the MPTP macaque model of Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: Many PD patients suffer from some form of acute or chronic pain, including musculoskeletal, fluctuation-related, central, nocturnal, orofacial, and peripheral pain. There is no direct correlation between motor impairment and altered pain thresholds, indicating that motor dysfunction and pain may represent different pathophysiological processes in the progression of PD. Although the pathophysiology of pain in PD remains poorly understood, clinical examination of some PD patients demonstrates a significant decrease in tactile and thermal thresholds together with a reduction in mechanical pain perception and a substantial loss of epidermal nerve fibres and Meissner corpuscles. Some authors found a correlation between PD disease severity and the reduction of pain and cold perception, suggesting that sensitivity tests could be an additional indicator of PD evolution/severity.

Method: Mechanical (using automatic Electronic Von Frey apparatus) and thermal sensitivity (Heat and cold: contact feedback-controlled Peltier thermode (NTE-3 Thermal Sensitivity Tester) were investigated in a large cohort of MPTP-treated macaque monkeys in OFF and ON L-DOPA conditions.

Results: MPTP-treated macaques displayed alterations in their mechanical and thermal thresholds with minimal benefit from dopamine-replacement therapy.

Conclusion: The use of the MPTP macaque model of PD, the gold standard for antiparkinsonian and antidyskinetic treatment validation, could be extended to test therapeutic strategies to combat PD pain.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/mechanical-and-thermal-thresholds-in-the-mptp-macaque-model-of-parkinsons-disease/