scholarly journals Targeting bone morphogenetic protein signalling in midbrain dopaminergic neurons as a therapeutic approach in Parkinson's disease

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard W. O'Keeffe ◽  
Shane V. Hegarty ◽  
Aideen M. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Neurotrophic Factors ◽  
Neurotrophic Factor ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Axon Growth ◽  
Nervous System Development ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Bmp Receptors

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, characterized by the degeneration of midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons and their axons, and aggregation of α-synuclein, which leads to motor and late-stage cognitive impairments. As the motor symptoms of PD are caused by the degeneration of a specific population of mDA neurons, PD lends itself to neurotrophic factor therapy. The goal of this therapy is to apply a neurotrophic factor that can slow down, halt or even reverse the progressive degeneration of mDA neurons. While the best known neurotrophic factors are members of the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) family, their lack of clinical efficacy to date means that it is important to continue to study other neurotrophic factors. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are naturally secreted proteins that play critical roles during nervous system development and in the adult brain. In this review, we provide an overview of the BMP ligands, BMP receptors (BMPRs) and their intracellular signalling effectors, the Smad proteins. We review the available evidence that BMP–Smad signalling pathways play an endogenous role in mDA neuronal survival in vivo, before outlining how exogenous application of BMPs exerts potent effects on mDA neuron survival and axon growth in vitro and in vivo. We discuss the molecular mechanisms that mediate these effects, before highlighting the potential of targeting the downstream effectors of BMP–Smad signalling as a novel neuroprotective approach to slow or stop the degeneration of mDA neurons in PD.

scholarly journals Inhibition of Microglia-Derived Oxidative Stress by Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor Protects Dopamine Neurons In Vivo from MPP+ Neurotoxicity

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 3543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeong Baek ◽  
Jae Jeong ◽  
Kyoung Kim ◽  
So-Yoon Won ◽  
Young Chung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Neurotrophic Factor ◽  
Transient Receptor Potential ◽  
Receptor Potential ◽  
Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor ◽  
Dopamine Neurons ◽  
Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid

We demonstrated that capsaicin (CAP), an agonist of transient receptor potential vanilloid subtype 1 (TRPV1), inhibits microglia activation and microglia-derived oxidative stress in the substantia nigra (SN) of MPP+-lesioned rat. However, the detailed mechanisms how microglia-derived oxidative stress is regulated by CAP remain to be determined. Here we report that ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) endogenously produced by CAP-activated astrocytes through TRPV1, but not microglia, inhibits microglial activation and microglia-derived oxidative stress, as assessed by OX-6 and OX-42 immunostaining and hydroethidine staining, respectively, resulting in neuroprotection. The significant increase in levels of CNTF receptor alpha (CNTFRα) expression was evident on microglia in the MPP+-lesioned rat SN and the observed beneficial effects of CNTF was abolished by treatment with CNTF receptor neutralizing antibody. It is therefore likely that CNTF can exert its effect via CNTFRα on microglia, which rescues dopamine neurons in the SN of MPP+-lesioned rats and ameliorates amphetamine-induced rotations. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed also a significantly increased expression of CNTFRα on microglia in the SN from human Parkinson’s disease patients compared with age-matched controls, indicating that these findings may have relevance to the disease. These data suggest that CNTF originated from TRPV1 activated astrocytes may be beneficial to treat neurodegenerative disease associated with neuro-inflammation such as Parkinson’s disease.

scholarly journals Parkinson's disease and mitophagy: an emerging role for LRRK2

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francois Singh ◽  
Ian G. Ganley
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Muscle Stiffness ◽  
Substantia Nigra Pars Compacta ◽  
Common Mutation ◽  
Common Denominator

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects around 2% of individuals over 60 years old. It is characterised by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta of the midbrain, which is thought to account for the major clinical symptoms such as tremor, slowness of movement and muscle stiffness. Its aetiology is poorly understood as the physiological and molecular mechanisms leading to this neuronal loss are currently unclear. However, mitochondrial and lysosomal dysfunction seem to play a central role in this disease. In recent years, defective mitochondrial elimination through autophagy, termed mitophagy, has emerged as a potential contributing factor to disease pathology. PINK1 and Parkin, two proteins mutated in familial PD, were found to eliminate mitochondria under distinct mitochondrial depolarisation-induced stress. However, PINK1 and Parkin are not essential for all types of mitophagy and such pathways occur in most cell types and tissues in vivo, even in the absence of overt mitochondrial stress — so-called basal mitophagy. The most common mutation in PD, that of glycine at position 2019 to serine in the protein kinase LRRK2, results in increased activity and this was recently shown to disrupt basal mitophagy in vivo. Thus, different modalities of mitophagy are affected by distinct proteins implicated in PD, suggesting impaired mitophagy may be a common denominator for the disease. In this short review, we discuss the current knowledge about the link between PD pathogenic mutations and mitophagy, with a particular focus on LRRK2.

scholarly journals Machine learning discriminates a movement disorder in a zebrafish model of Parkinson's disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. dmm045815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon L. Hughes ◽  
Michael A. Lones ◽  
Matthew Bedder ◽  
Peter D. Currie ◽  
Stephen L. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Movement Disorders ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Computational Method ◽  
Metabolic Reprogramming ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Zebrafish Model

ABSTRACTAnimal models of human disease provide an in vivo system that can reveal molecular mechanisms by which mutations cause pathology, and, moreover, have the potential to provide a valuable tool for drug development. Here, we have developed a zebrafish model of Parkinson's disease (PD) together with a novel method to screen for movement disorders in adult fish, pioneering a more efficient drug-testing route. Mutation of the PARK7 gene (which encodes DJ-1) is known to cause monogenic autosomal recessive PD in humans, and, using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, we generated a Dj-1 loss-of-function zebrafish with molecular hallmarks of PD. To establish whether there is a human-relevant parkinsonian phenotype in our model, we adapted proven tools used to diagnose PD in clinics and developed a novel and unbiased computational method to classify movement disorders in adult zebrafish. Using high-resolution video capture and machine learning, we extracted novel features of movement from continuous data streams and used an evolutionary algorithm to classify parkinsonian fish. This method will be widely applicable for assessing zebrafish models of human motor diseases and provide a valuable asset for the therapeutics pipeline. In addition, interrogation of RNA-seq data indicate metabolic reprogramming of brains in the absence of Dj-1, adding to growing evidence that disruption of bioenergetics is a key feature of neurodegeneration.This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.

scholarly journals Viral vector delivery of neurotrophic factors for Parkinson's disease therapy

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin J. Kelly ◽  
Gerard W. O'Keeffe ◽  
Aideen M. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Neurotrophic Factors ◽  
Neurotrophic Factor ◽  
Dopaminergic Neurons ◽  
Viral Vectors ◽  
Viral Vector ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorder ◽  
The Brain

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterised by the progressive loss of midbrain dopaminergic neurons, which causes motor impairments. Current treatments involve dopamine replacement to address the disease symptoms rather than its cause. Factors that promote the survival of dopaminergic neurons have been proposed as novel therapies for PD. Several dopaminergic neurotrophic factors (NTFs) have been examined for their ability to protect and/or restore degenerating dopaminergic neurons, both in animal models and in clinical trials. These include glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, neurturin, cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor and growth/differentiation factor 5. Delivery of these NTFs via injection or infusion to the brain raises several practical problems. A new delivery approach for NTFs involves the use of recombinant viral vectors to enable long-term expression of these factors in brain cells. Vectors used include those based on adenoviruses, adeno-associated viruses and lentiviruses. Here we review progress to date on the potential of each of these four NTFs as novel therapeutic strategies for PD, as well as the challenges that have arisen, from pre-clinical analysis to clinical trials. We conclude by discussing recently-developed approaches to optimise the delivery of NTF-carrying viral vectors to the brain.

scholarly journals Improving therapeutic potential of GDNF family ligands

2020 ◽  
Vol 382 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Runeberg-Roos ◽  
Richard D Penn
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Cell Line ◽  
Glial Cell ◽  
Motor Function ◽  
Neurotrophic Factors ◽  
Neurotrophic Factor ◽  
Therapeutic Potential ◽  
Cell Biologist

Abstract The last decade has been a frustrating time for investigators who had envisioned major advances in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease using neurotrophic factors. The first trials of glial cell line–derived neurotrophic factor for treating Parkinson’s disease were very promising. Later blinded control trials were disappointing, not reaching the predetermined outcomes for improvement in motor function. Consideration of the problems in the studies as well as the biology of the neurotrophins used can potentially lead to more effective therapies. Parkinson’s disease presents a multitude of opportunities for the cell biologist wanting to understand its pathology and to find possible new avenues for treatment.

scholarly journals Neurotrophic Factors in Parkinson’s Disease: Clinical Trials, Open Challenges and Nanoparticle-Mediated Delivery to the Brain

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olesja Bondarenko ◽  
Mart Saarma
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Neurotrophic Factors ◽  
Neurotrophic Factor ◽  
Delivery Methods ◽  
Intracranial Surgery ◽  
Neuronal Populations ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
The Brain

Neurotrophic factors (NTFs) are small secreted proteins that support the development, maturation and survival of neurons. NTFs injected into the brain rescue and regenerate certain neuronal populations lost in neurodegenerative diseases, demonstrating the potential of NTFs to cure the diseases rather than simply alleviating the symptoms. NTFs (as the vast majority of molecules) do not pass through the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and therefore, are delivered directly into the brain of patients using costly and risky intracranial surgery. The delivery efficacy and poor diffusion of some NTFs inside the brain are considered the major problems behind their modest effects in clinical trials. Thus, there is a great need for NTFs to be delivered systemically thereby avoiding intracranial surgery. Nanoparticles (NPs), particles with the size dimensions of 1-100 nm, can be used to stabilize NTFs and facilitate their transport through the BBB. Several studies have shown that NTFs can be loaded into or attached onto NPs, administered systemically and transported to the brain. To improve the NP-mediated NTF delivery through the BBB, the surface of NPs can be functionalized with specific ligands such as transferrin, insulin, lactoferrin, apolipoproteins, antibodies or short peptides that will be recognized and internalized by the respective receptors on brain endothelial cells. In this review, we elaborate on the most suitable NTF delivery methods and envision “ideal” NTF for Parkinson’s disease (PD) and clinical trial thereof. We shortly summarize clinical trials of four NTFs, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), neurturin (NRTN), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-BB), and cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor (CDNF), that were tested in PD patients, focusing mainly on GDNF and CDNF. We summarize current possibilities of NP-mediated delivery of NTFs to the brain and discuss whether NPs have impact in improving the properties of NTFs and delivery across the BBB. Emerging delivery approaches and future directions of NTF-based nanomedicine are also discussed.

In vivo multimodal (MRI, SPECT) imaging of the 6-OHDA rat model for Parkinson's disease correlated with behavior and histology

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. S392-S392
Author(s):  
Nadja Van Camp ◽  
Koen Van Laere ◽  
Ruth Vreys ◽  
Marleen Verhoye ◽  
Erwin Lauwers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Rat Model ◽  
Spect Imaging ◽  
Multimodal Mri
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