Exercise intervention improves motor symptoms of Parkinson disease and underlying mechanisms

Parkinson disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases in the world. Many PD treatment programs are designed to manage motor symptoms by drug or surgical intervention (such as deep brain stimulation Although these regimens improve the symptoms of PD or slow the development of the disease, certain side effects remain unsolved during the treartment, and lack of neuroprotective strategies is still the main problem. Exercise or physical exercise can reduce the risk of PD, and significantly improve the movement symptoms of PD or slow down the development of the disease through different neurobiological mechanisms. This article intends to review the progress in improving the movement symptoms of PD and the possible mechanism of exercise intervention for PD.     

Detection and clinical significance of myeloid-derived suppressor cells in peripheral blood of patients with Parkinson disease

AIM: To detect the myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in peripheral blood from the patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and its clinical significance. METHODS: The patients (n=80) diagnosed PD from January 2016 to March 2017 in our hospital and 20 healthy volunteers were selected as the subjects. According to the Hoehn-Yahr staging, 80 PD patients were staged, of whom 22 were I, 24 were Ⅱ, 20 were Ⅲ, 14 were IV, and 0 was V. Peripheral blood (5 mL) samples from the patients with PD and the healthy volunteers were collected and the mononuclear cells were isolated. The levels of CD14⁺CD11b⁺ cells and CD14^-CD11b⁺ cells in the peripheral blood were detected by flow cytometry. The two populations of the cells were sorted by magnetic beads. The mRNA levels of arginase 1 (ARG1), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) were detected by qPCR. The expression of surface membrane proteins CD14 and CD11b, and immunosuppressive factors ARG1, IL-10 and COX-2 was determined by Western blot and ELISA. RESULTS: No significant change of CD14⁺CD11b⁺ cells between the patients with PD and normal controls was observed, but the cells with CD14^-CD11b⁺ increased significantly in the patients with PD compared with the control people (P<0.05). The CD14^-CD11b⁺ cells in peripheral blood of the patients were related to the stage of Hoehn-Yahr. The CD14^-CD11b⁺ and CD14⁺CD11b⁺ cells showed high levels of IL-10 and COX-2, and the high level of ARG1 was only expressed in the CD14^-CD11b⁺ cells. The expression of ARG1 in the CD14^-CD11b⁺ population from PD patients was significantly different from that of CD14⁺CD11b⁺ population and normal subjects (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The CD14^-CD11b⁺ cells and ARG1 expression level in peripheral blood of the PD patients can be used to evaluate the pathogenesis and staging. Immunosuppression may play an important role in the pathogenesis and development of PD.     

Effects of cordycepin on motor and cognition in Parkinson disease mice induced by MPTP

AIM:To investigate the effects of cordycepin on the motor and cognition in Parkinson disease mice induced by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). METHODS:C57BL/6 mice were intraperitoneally injected with MPTP at a dose of 30 mg/kg daily for consecutive 8 d to establish the model of Parkinson disease. HE staining was used to observe the cell number in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) from the mice. Western blot was used to detect the protein level of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in substantia nigra (SN). The effects of cordycepin on the motor, emotional change and cognitive behavior of the Parkinson disease mice were examined by open-field test (OFT), sponta-neous alternating behavior (SAB) and water maze test (WMT), respectively. RESULTS:Cordycepin significantly reduced the apoptosis of cells in SNpc and reversed the decrease in the expression of TH in SN induced by MPTP (P<0.05). Furthermore, cordycepin was able to improve the average speed in OFT (P<0.05), and increased the total number of arm entry and the accuracy in SAB (P<0.05), but had no obvious effect on the latency in WMT. CONCLUSION:Cordycepin is capable of attenuating the impairments of motor and explorative ability in the early stage of Parkinson disease mice, but does not alter the cognitive dysfunction.     

Identification and analysis of differentially expressed proteins during cotyledon embryo stage in longan

The cotyledon stage is a crucial developmental stage during longan embryo development. Two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight-tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS) were conducted to separate and identify proteins expressed in the longan cotyledon embryos at different development stages. A total of 28 proteins that exhibited regulated expression were successfully identified with a protein identification success rate of 72.2%. The 28 proteins were assigned to six functional classes based on their putative biological functions: energy and metabolism (21%), secondary metabolism (18%), protein metabolism (21%), cell division (11%), antioxidation (4%), nucleic acid metabolism (4%), hormonal regulation (4%) and unknown proteins (18%). Interestingly, three enzymes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis, whose expression in embryos had not been observed previously were clearly up-regulated during the cotyledon stage of embryo development in longan. Identification and analysis of the 28 proteins would shed new lights on further understanding of the biochemical and physiological processes of the embryo development at cotyledon stage in longan.