Abstract

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