Caspase inhibition protects nigral neurons against 6-OHDA-induced retrograde degeneration.
6-Hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) administered intrastriatally to adult rats in a single injection causes neurodegeneration of the nigrostriatal pathway and loss of > 50% of dopamine neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta 30 days after administration. The death of nigral neurons occurs, at least partially, by a caspase-mediated mechanism. The nigral loss of dopaminergic neurons could be prevented by stereotaxical administration of zVAD.fmk, a caspase inhibitor, into the substantia nigra, indicating that 6-OHDA-induced nigrostriatal degeneration involves caspase activation. These results suggest that caspases are probably involved in neurodegenerative chronic processes such as Parkinson's disease and might be considered as possible targets in the treatment of such neurological disorders.
Cutillas
B
B
Unitat de Bioquímica, Departament de Ciències Fisiològiques II, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
Espejo
M
M
Gil
J
J
Ferrer
I
I
Ambrosio
S
S
D000590:Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D015853:Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016627:Oxidopamine / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D000590:Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones; D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D015853:Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; C096713:benzyloxycarbonylvalyl-alanyl-aspartyl fluoromethyl ketone; D016627:Oxidopamine