Background and Aim: Many efforts have been taken to find and develop animal models for Parkinson’s disease, in order to improve our knowledge about this disorder and find therapeutic approaches. Generally reproducibility of experiments on laboratory animals is accompanied by some troubles; therefore the validity of model is certified by certain behavioral tests. Therefor our study was aimed to develop an accurate and reproducible animal model of Parkinson’s disease using rotenone in rat. Methods: male Wistar rats weighting 400±50g (10-12months) received several doses of rotenone (1,2,3 mg/kg) or its vehicle subcutaneously every 48 hours. Three behavioral tests (rotarod, rearing and bar tests) were run in order to check the development of model. Results: Results indicated that rotenone (2mg/kg/48h) was an efficient method beside its low mortality. In this induction method, latency time on rotarod test and movement skills in rearing test decreased significantly. On the other hand, catalepsy was increased in rotenone group significantly compared to vehicle treated animals. In addition the statistical correlation between behavioral tests justified the development of movement disorders in the model. Conclusion: It is concluded from the results that among the rotenone doses used in this study for induction of Parkinson’s disease model, rotenone (2mg/kg/48h) was the best approach with reproducible capacity.
