Molecular changes in the postmortem parkinsonian brain

Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer disease. Although PD has a relatively narrow clinical phenotype, it has become clear that its etiological basis is broad. Post-mortem brain analysis, despite its limitations, has provided invaluable insights into relevant pathogenic pathways including mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress and protein homeostasis dysregulation. Identification of the genetic causes of PD followed the discovery of these abnormalities, and reinforced the importance of the biochemical defects identified post-mortem. Recent genetic studies have highlighted the mitochondrial and lysosomal areas of cell function as particularly significant in mediating the neurodegeneration of PD. Thus the careful analysis of post-mortem PD brain biochemistry remains a crucial component of research, and one that offers considerable opportunity to pursue etiological factors either by ‘reverse biochemistry’ i.e. from defective pathway to mutant gene, or by the complex interplay between pathways e.g. mitochondrial turnover by lysosomes. In this review we have documented the spectrum of biochemical defects identified in PD post-mortem brain and explored their relevance to metabolic pathways involved in neurodegeneration. We have highlighted the complex interactions between these pathways and the gene mutations causing or increasing risk for PD. These pathways are becoming a focus for the development of disease modifying therapies for PD. Parkinson's is accompanied by multiple changes in the brain that are responsible for the progression of the disease. We describe here the molecular alterations occurring in postmortem brains and classify them as: Neurotransmitters and neurotrophic factors; Lewy bodies and Parkinson's-linked genes; Transition metals, calcium and calcium-binding proteins; Inflammation; Mitochondrial abnormalities and oxidative stress; Abnormal protein removal and degradation; Apoptosis and transduction pathways

Sleep Fragmentation and Motor Restlessness in a Drosophila Model of Restless Legs Syndrome

SummaryRestless Legs Syndrome (RLS), first chronicled by Willis in 1672 and described in more detail by Ekbom in 1945 [1], is a prevalent sensorimotor neurological disorder (5%–10% in the population) with a circadian predilection for the evening and night. Characteristic clinical features also include a compelling urge to move during periods of rest, relief with movement, involuntary movements in sleep (viz., periodic leg movements of sleep), and fragmented sleep [2, 3]. Although the pathophysiology of RLS is unknown, dopaminergic neurotransmission and deficits in iron availability modulate expressivity [1, 4–9]. Genome-wide association studies have identified a polymorphism in an intronic region of the BTBD9 gene on chromosome 6 that confers substantial risk for RLS [2, 3, 10–12]. Here, we report that loss of the Drosophila homolog CG1826 (dBTBD9) appreciably disrupts sleep with concomitant increases in waking and motor activity. We further show that BTBD9 regulates brain dopamine levels in flies and controls iron homeostasis through the iron regulatory protein-2 in human cell lines. To our knowledge, this represents the first reverse genetic analysis of a “novel” or heretofore poorly understood gene implicated in an exceedingly common and complex sleep disorder and the development of an RLS animal model that closely recapitulates all disease phenotypes

RING finger protein 11 (RNF11) modulates susceptibility to 6-OHDA-induced nigral degeneration and behavioral deficits through NF-κB signaling in dopaminergic cells

Chronic activation of the NF-κB pathway is associated with progressive neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Given the role of neuronal RING finger protein 11 (RNF11) as a negative regulator of the NF-κB pathway, in this report we investigated the function of RNF11 in dopaminergic cells in PD-associated neurodegeneration. We found that RNF11 knock-down in an in vitro model of PD mediated protection against 6-OHDA-induced toxicity. In converse, over-expression of RNF11 enhanced 6-OHDA-induced dopaminergic cell death. Furthermore, by directly manipulating NF-κB signaling, we showed that the observed RNF11-enhanced 6-OHDA toxicity is mediated through inhibition of NF-κB-dependent transcription of TNF-α, antioxidants GSS and SOD1, and anti-apoptotic factor BCL2. Experiments in an in vivo 6-OHDA rat model of PD recapitulated the in vitro results. In vivo targeted RNF11 over-expression in nigral neurons enhanced 6-OHDA toxicity, as evident by increased amphetamine-induced rotations and loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons as compared to controls. This enhanced toxicity was coupled with down-regulation of NF-κB transcribed GSS, SOD1, BCL2, and neurotrophic factor BDNF mRNA levels, in addition to decreased TNF-α mRNA levels in ventral mesenchephalon samples. In converse, knockdown of RNF11 was associated with protective phenotypes and increased expression of above-mentioned NF-κB transcribed genes. Collectively, our in vitro and in vivo data suggest that RNF11-mediated inhibition of NF-κB in dopaminergic cells exaggerates 6-OHDA toxicity by inhibiting neuroprotective responses while loss of RNF11 inhibition on NF-κB activity promotes neuronal survival. The decreased expression of RNF11 in surviving cortical and nigral tissue detected in PD patients, thus implies a compensatory response in the diseased brain to PD-associated insults. In summary, our findings demonstrate that RNF11 in neurons can modulate susceptibility to 6-OHDA toxicity through NF-κB mediated responses. This neuron-specific role of RNF11 in the brain has important implications for targeted therapeutics aimed at preventing neurodegeneration