Ohta M, Mizuta I, Ohta K, Nishimura M, Mizuta E, Hayashi K, Kuno S
Clinical Research Center, Utano National Hospital, Kyoto, Japan.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2000 May 27;272(1):18-22. doi: 10.1006/bbrc.2000.2732.
Apomorphine, a D1/D2 dopamine agonist, is an anti-parkinsonian drug. We examined the effects of apomorphine on synthesis of neurotrophic factors in cultured mouse astrocytes. After 24 h incubation with apomorphine, NGF and GDNF contents in the culture medium increased to 122-fold and 1.8-fold of the control, respectively; whereas the BDNF content did not change significantly. In Northern blot analysis, expression of NGF mRNA in astrocytes reached the maximum level at 6 h after addition of the drug. By semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis, the GDNF transcript level was found to reach 2.9-fold of the control level at 15 h. These results suggest that apomorphine may exert neuroprotective effects by stimulation of NGF and GDNF synthesis in astrocytes.
