L-DOPA induces spatially discrete changes in gene expression in the forebrain of mice with a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons

L-3,4-Dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) is effective at alleviating motor impairments in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients but has mixed effects on nonmotor symptoms and causes adverse effects after prolonged treatment. Here, we analyzed the spatial profile of L-DOPA-induced gene expression in the forebrain of mice with an inducible progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons (the TIF-IA ^DATCreERT2 strain), with a focus on the similarities and differences in areas relevant to different PD symptoms. The animals received a 14-day L-DOPA treatment, and 1 h after the final drug injection, a spatial transcriptome analysis was performed on coronal forebrain sections. A total of 121 genes were identified as being regulated by L-DOPA. We found that the treatment had widespread effects extending beyond the primary areas involved in dopamine-dependent movement control. An unsupervised clustering analysis of the transcripts recapitulated the forebrain anatomy and indicated both ubiquitous and region-specific effects on transcription. The changes were most pronounced in layers 2/3 and 5 of the dorsal cortex and the dorsal striatum, where a robust increase in the abundance of activity-regulated transcripts, including Fos , Egr1 , and Junb , was observed. Conversely, transcripts with a decreased abundance, e.g., Plekhm2 or Pgs1 , were identified primarily in the piriform cortex, the adjacent endopiriform nucleus, and the claustrum. Taken together, our spatial analysis of L-DOPA-induced alterations in gene expression reveals the anatomical complexity of treatment effects, identifying novel genes affected by the drug, as well as molecular activation in brain areas relevant to the nonmotor symptoms of PD.