Generation of reactive oxygen species in 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) treated dopaminergic neurons occurs as an NADPH oxidase-dependent two-wave cascade.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), are necessary for appropriate responses to immune challenges. In the brain, excess superoxide production predicts neuronal cell loss, suggesting that Parkinson's disease (PD) with its wholesale death of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta (nigra) may be a case in point. Although microglial NADPH oxidase-produced superoxide contributes to dopaminergic neuron death in an MPTP mouse model of PD, this is secondary to an initial die off of such neurons, suggesting that the initial MPTP-induced death of neurons may be via activation of NADPH oxidase in neurons themselves, thus providing an early therapeutic target.

Methods

NADPH oxidase subunits were visualized in adult mouse nigr

SUBMITTER: Zawada WM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3198931 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature