Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Neurotox Res. 2010 May;17(4):392-8. doi: 10.1007/s12640-009-9115-0. Epub 2009 Sep 15.
The higher risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) among professional soccer players, recently reported in Italy, has stimulated investigations in the search for environmental factors that may be at the origin of the increased susceptibility to the disease. Here we studied if high concentrations of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), widely used among athletes as dietary integrators to improve physical performance, may be related to an excitotoxic neuronal cell damage. Our results show that (i) high concentrations of BCAAs are neurotoxic and increase excitotoxicity in cortical neurons; (ii) neurotoxicity is brain area specific, being detected in cortical, but not in hippocampal neurons; (iii) it is related to NMDA receptor overstimulation, since it is abolished in the presence of MK-801, a specific NMDA channel blocker; (iv) it depends on the presence of astrocytes. We describe here a possible biological link between an environmental factor (high dietary intake of BCAAs) and the increased risk of ALS among soccer players.
意大利最近报道，职业足球运动员患肌萎缩性侧索硬化症（ALS）的风险较高，这促使人们对可能导致ALS 易感性增加的环境因素进行了研究。在这里，我们研究了支链氨基酸（BCAA）浓度较高是否与兴奋性神经元细胞损伤有关，BCAA 作为运动员的饮食补充剂，广泛用于提高运动表现。我们的研究结果表明：（i）高浓度的 BCAA 具有神经毒性，并增加皮质神经元的兴奋性毒性；（ii）神经毒性具有脑区特异性，仅在皮质神经元中检测到，而不在海马神经元中检测到；（iii）它与 NMDA 受体过度刺激有关，因为在存在特定的 NMDA 通道阻滞剂 MK-801 的情况下，它被消除；（iv）它取决于星形胶质细胞的存在。我们在这里描述了环境因素（高饮食摄入 BCAA）和足球运动员 ALS 风险增加之间的可能生物学联系。
