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Agmatine, a metabolite generated by arginine decarboxylation, has been reported as neuromodulator and neuroactive substance. Several findings suggest that agmatine displays neuroprotective effects in several models of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). It has been hypothesized that biogenic amines may be involved in neuroprotection by scavenging oxygen radicals, thus preventing the generation of oxidative stress. Mitochondrial dysfunction, that leads to a reduction of oxygen consumption, followed by activation of prolyl hydroxylase and decrease of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) levels, has been demonstrated to play a role in PD pathogenesis. Using rotenone-treated differentiated SH-SY5Y cells as the in vitro PD model, we here investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying agmatine neuroprotective effects. Our results showed that the preliminary addition of agmatine induces HIF-1α activation, and prevents the rotenone-induced production of free radical species, and the activation of apoptotic pathways by inhibiting mitochondrial membrane potential decrease and caspase 3 as well as cytochrome c increase. Notably, these effects are mediated by HIF-1α, as indicated by experiments using a HIF-1α inhibitor. The present findings suggest that the treatment with agmatine is able to counteract the neuronal cell injury evoked by mitochondrial toxins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zonisamide (ZNS), an antiepileptic drug having beneficial effects also against Parkinson’s disease symptoms, has proven to display an antioxidant effects in different experimental models. In the present study, the effects of ZNS on rotenone-induced cell injury were investigated in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells differentiated towards a neuronal phenotype. Cell cultures were exposed for 24 h to 500 nM rotenone with or without pre-treatment with 10–100 μM ZNS. Then, the following parameters were analyzed: (a) cell viability; (b) intracellular reactive oxygen species production; (c) mitochondrial transmembrane potential; (d) cell necrosis and apoptosis; (e) caspase-3 activity. ZNS dose-dependently suppressed rotenone-induced cell damage through a decrease in intracellular ROS production, and restoring mitochondrial membrane potential. Similarly to ZNS effects, the treatment with N-acetyl-cysteine (100 μM) displayed significant protective effects against rotenone-induced ROS production and Δψ m at 4 and 12 h respectively, reaching the maximal extent at 24 h. Additionally, ZNS displayed antiapoptotic effects, as demonstrated by flow cytometric analysis of annexin V/propidium iodide double staining, and significant attenuated rotenone-increased caspase 3 activity. On the whole, these findings suggest that ZNS preserves mitochondrial functions and counteracts apoptotic signalling mechanisms mainly by an antioxidant action. Thus, ZNS might have beneficial effect against neuronal cell degeneration in different experimental models involving mitochondrial dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is evidence that increased homocysteine (Hcy) levels might accelerate dopaminergic cell death in Parkinson's disease (PD) through neurotoxic effects. Homocysteine neurotoxicity mainly relies on redox state alterations. The present work was aimed at investigating the relationships between plasma Hcy concentrations and percent content of oxidized versus total Coenzyme Q10 (%CoQ10) in 60 PD patients and 82 healthy subjects. Both groups were screened for plasma levels of Hcy, vitamin B12, folate, %CoQ10 and C677T methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphism. The MTHFR TT677 mutated genotype was found more frequently in patients than in controls ( p = 0.01). In a multivariate analysis, Hcy levels and %CoQ10 were associated with the case/control category ( p < 0.0001), MTHFR genotype ( p < 0.0001) and their interaction term ( p = 0.0015), even after adjusting for age, sex, folate and vitamin B12. Patients carrying the TT677 genotype exhibited the highest values of Hcy and %CoQ10 ( p < 0.0001). Structural equation modelling evidenced that the TT677 genotype and levodopa daily dose were independently and directly correlated with Hcy ( p < 0.0001, and p = 0.003, respectively), which, in turn, showed a significant correlation ( p < 0.0001) with the %CoQ10 in PD patients. Our results suggest that increased Hcy levels act as mediator of the systemic oxidative stress occurring in PD, and %CoQ10 determination might be regarded as a predictor of toxic Hcy effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agmatine is a novel neuromodulator that plays a protective role in the CNS in several models of cellular damage. However, the mechanisms involved in these protective effects in neurodegenerative diseases are poorly understood. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis detects biomolecular changes in disordered cells and tissues. In this report, we utilize FTIR spectroscopy to characterize the changes in rotenone-induced damage in neuronal-like differentiated SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells in the presence or absence of agmatine. The analysis of the FTIR spectra demonstrates significant alterations in rotenone-treated cells, whereas the FTIR spectra obtained after pre-incubation with agmatine (250 nM) significantly reduces these redox alterations and more closely resembles those of the control cells. In particular, rotenone-damaged cells demonstrate spectral alterations related to amide I, which correspond to an increase in β-sheet components, and decreases in the amide II absorption intensity, suggesting a loss of N-H bending and C-N stretching. These alterations were also evident by Fourier self-deconvolution analysis. Thus, rotenone-induced increases in the levels of stretching vibration band related to the protein carboxyl group would account for a significant amount of misfolded proteins in the cell. Agmatine effectively reduces these effects of rotenone on protein structure. In conclusion, antioxidant and scavenging properties of agmatine reduce rotenone-produced cellular damage at the level of protein structure. These, together with other previous observations, demonstrate the therapeutic potential of agmatine in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agmatine, an endogenous arginine metabolite, has been proposed as a novel neuromodulator that plays protective roles in the CNS in several models of cellular damage. However, the mechanisms involved in these protective effects in neurodegenerative diseases are poorly understood. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of agmatine on cell injury induced by rotenone, commonly used in establishing in vivo and in vitro models of Parkinson's disease, in human-derived dopaminergic neuroblastoma cell line (SH-SY5Y). We report that agmatine dose-dependently suppressed rotenone-induced cellular injury through a reduction of oxidative stress. Similar effects were obtained by spermine, suggesting a scavenging effect for these compounds. However, unlike spermine, agmatine also prevented rotenone-induced nuclear factor-κB nuclear translocation and mitochondrial membrane potential dissipation. Furthermore, rotenone-induced increase in apoptotic markers, such as caspase 3 activity, Bax expression and cytochrome c release, was significantly attenuated with agmatine treatment. These findings demonstrate mitochondrial preservation with agmatine in a rotenone model of apoptotic cell death, and that the neuroprotective action of agmatine appears because of suppressing apoptotic signalling mechanisms. Thus, agmatine may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of Parkinson's disease by protecting dopaminergic neurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proteolytic stress, resulting from the intracellular accumulation of misfolded or aggregated proteins, which exceed the capacity of the ubiquitin–proteasome system to degrade them, plays a relevant role in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s chorea. Most of toxic protein aggregates are characterised by the presence of isopeptide bonds (cross-links) catalysed by transglutaminase activity; further, several disease-specific proteins—tau, amyloid-beta, alpha-synuclein, huntingtin—are in vitro and/or in vivo substrates of transglutaminase 2. These findings suggest an important role for transglutaminase 2-mediated cross-linking reactions in neurodegeneration. Therefore, the use of transglutaminase activity inhibitors could ameliorate neuronal cell death. New therapeutic perspectives also arise from the possibility to prevent or reduce protein aggregation by enhancing the activation of heat shock proteins, which have been shown to be potent suppressors of neurodegeneration in cell cultures/animal models. Interestingly, some heat shock proteins have been shown to be in vitro or in vivo cross-linked by transglutaminase 2. These observations seem to suggest that transglutaminase activity could be involved in the stabilization of intracellular protein aggregates by interfering with proteasomal degradation of misfolded proteins. Further studies are needed to validate leading hypotheses and to open new prospects for developing therapeutic tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much evidence suggests that both oxidative stress and apoptosis play a key role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). The present study aims to evaluate the protective effect of bergamot juice (BJ) against 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)- or H2O2-induced cell death. Treatment of differentiated SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells with 6-OHDA or H2O2 resulted in cell death that was significantly reduced by the pre-treatment with BJ. The protective effects of BJ seem to correlate with the reduction of intracellular reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide generation caused by 6-OHDA or H2O2. BJ also attenuated mitochondrial dysfunction, caspase-3 activation, imbalance of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins, MAPKs activation and reduced NF-ĸB nuclear translocation evoked by neurotoxic agents. Additionally, BJ exhibited excellent antioxidant capability in cell-free assays. Collectively, our results suggest that BJ exerts neuroprotective effect through the interplay with specific cell targets and its antioxidant activity, making it worthy of consideration for the management of neurodegenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]