Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease resulting from the degeneration of dopaminergic (DAergic) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and subsequent deficit of dopamine in the striatum. PD is inversely associated with consumption of peppers; however, the constituent and the underlying mechanism remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of 7-ethoxy-4-methylcoumarin (EMC), a pepper constituent, on PD-like disorders in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced mice and 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-exposed C. elegans. In this study, EMC was identified as an agonist of dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) and increased the expression of P-CREB and BDNF in SH-SY5Y cells. In MPTP-treated PD mice, EMC was shown to apparently ameliorate the motor and gait disorders, and restore the depressed TH expression in SNpc and striatum. Meanwhile, it recovered the locomotor deficit caused by 6-OHDA in wild type N2 and CAT-2-transgenic UA57 of C. elegans, and relieved the degeneration of DAergic neurons resulting from 6-OHDA or with ageing. Moreover, EMC inhibited α-synuclein accumulation in C. elegans strain NL5901 overexpressing human α-synuclein gene. Taken together, EMC was identified as a novel DRD2 agonist and improved experimental PD in mice and C. elegans. These findings suggest that EMC may be beneficial to PD patients, further supporting that the consumption of peppers may have favorable effect on PD progression.
Pubmed ID: 33007422 RIS Download
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Software suite of automated docking tools. Designed to predict how small molecules, such as substrates or drug candidates, bind to receptor of known 3D structure. AutoDock consist of AutoDock 4 and AutoDock Vina. AutoDock 4 consists of autodock to perform docking of ligand to set of grids describing target protein, and autogrid to pre calculate these grids.
View all literature mentionsCell line SH-SY5Y is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentionsMus musculus with name C57BL/6J from IMSR.
View all literature mentionsCell line HEK293 is a Transformed cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentionsCaenorhabditis elegans with name Caenorhabditis elegans wild isolate. from WB.
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