State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, 214122, China.
Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control in Jiangsu Province, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, 214122, China.
Food Funct. 2022 May 23;13(10):5838-5853. doi: 10.1039/d1fo04374a.
Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disease, is a threat to patients due to the inability to prevent or decelerate disease progression. Currently, most clinical drugs for the treatment of PD are synthetic drugs that always present undesirable adverse or toxic effects. Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) is a natural oligosaccharide that has been considered relatively safe and studied in the therapeutic effects on different types of neuronal disorders. In this study, we separated four COS monomers (COSs) including chitobiose (COS2), chitotriose (COS3), chitotetraose (COS4) and chitopentaose (COS5) to explore their structure-activity relationship in PD mice induced by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). Techniques including TLC, HPLC, MS, and NMR were applied to investigate the purity and structure of the COSs. After the oral administration of COSs, behavior indexes, pathological indexes, cytokines, and expression of proteins in the nigrostriatal pathway of the mice were analyzed. The results showed that the four COSs were fully deacetylated and the purity was >90%. Additionally, the neurobehavioral deficits of the PD mice were improved by treatment with COSs. The results further proved that COSs could protect the TH-labelled dopaminergic neurons reducing the overexpression of α-synuclein, alleviating neuroinflammation, and activating the PI3K/Akt/Bcl-2 pathway to reduce apoptosis. COS3 exhibited a better effect on protecting dopaminergic neurons; however, COS2 provided a better effect on reducing the overexpression of α-synuclein. To conclude, the neuroprotective activity makes COSs a viable candidate as an ingredient for healthcare products.
帕金森病(PD)是第二大常见的神经退行性疾病,由于无法预防或减缓疾病进展,对患者构成威胁。目前,大多数用于治疗 PD 的临床药物都是合成药物,这些药物总是存在不良的不良反应或毒性作用。壳寡糖(COS)是一种天然低聚糖,已被认为相对安全,并在不同类型神经元紊乱的治疗效果方面进行了研究。在这项研究中,我们分离了四种 COS 单体(COSs),包括二糖(COS2)、三糖(COS3)、四糖(COS4)和五糖(COS5),以探索它们在 1-甲基-4-苯基-1,2,3,6-四氢吡啶(MPTP)诱导的 PD 小鼠中的结构-活性关系。采用 TLC、HPLC、MS 和 NMR 等技术研究了 COSs 的纯度和结构。在口服 COSs 后,分析了小鼠黑质纹状体通路中的行为指标、病理指标、细胞因子和蛋白表达。结果表明,四种 COS 均完全脱乙酰化,纯度>90%。此外,COSs 治疗可改善 PD 小鼠的神经行为缺陷。结果进一步证明,COSs 可以保护 TH 标记的多巴胺能神经元,减少α-突触核蛋白的过度表达,减轻神经炎症,激活 PI3K/Akt/Bcl-2 通路减少细胞凋亡。COS3 对保护多巴胺能神经元的效果更好;然而,COS2 在减少α-突触核蛋白的过度表达方面效果更好。总之,神经保护活性使 COSs 成为一种可行的候选药物,可作为保健品的成分。