Parkinson's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Parkinson's Disease, including details on symptoms, treatment, genetics, medication.

PARK7 DJ-1 protects against degeneration of nigral dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease rat model.

Inden M, Taira T, Kitamura Y, Yanagida T, Tsuchiya D, Takata K, Yanagisawa D, Nishimura K, Taniguchi T, Kiso Y, Yoshimoto K, Agatsuma T, Koide-Yoshida S, Iguchi-Ariga SM, Shimohama S, Ariga H

Department of Neurobiology, 21st Century COE Program, Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, Kyoto 607-8414, Japan.

DJ-1 has recently been shown to be responsible for onset of familial Parkinson's disease (PD), PARK7. DJ-1 has been shown to play roles in transcriptional regulation and anti-oxidative stress, and loss of its function is thought to trigger onset of PD. In this study, a recombinant DJ-1 protein was administrated into the brain of PD model rats that had been injected to 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in the left substantia nigra. PD phenotypes, including dopaminergic neuron death in the substantia nigra, decrease in dopamine, and dopamine transporter levels in the striatum, and motor abnormality, were dramatically improved by wild-type DJ-1 but not L166P DJ-1, a mutant form of DJ-1 found in PD patients. Furthermore, production of reactive oxygen species and cell death induced by 6-OHDA in SH-SY5Y cells and mesencephalic neurons were inhibited by addition of the recombinant DJ-1. These findings suggest that DJ-1 is a therapeutic target for PD.

Published 26 September 2006 in Neurobiol Dis, 24(1): 144-58.
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