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Benefits for Parkinson's
Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a disorder of the central nervous system that
affects between one and one-and-a-half million Americans. Clinically, the disease
is characterized by a decrease in spontaneous movements, gait difficulty, postural
instability, rigidity and tremor. PD may appear at any age, but it is uncommon
in people younger than 30, and the risk of developing it increases with age.
Oxidative
stress appears to play an important role in neuronal degeneration associated with
PD (Beal. 1992; Burke, 1998; Adams et al.. 2001; Sayreet al., 2001). The depletion
of glutathione (GSH) in the brain is the earliest know indicator of oxidative
stress in presymptomatic PD. (Jenner, 1993). Studies using both in vitro and in
vivo models have suggested that pretreatment with R-Lipoic acid increases cellular
levels of GSH, probably by preventing its depletion thereby protecting mitochondrial
integrity (Suzuki et al., 1991; Scott et al., 1994; Hanet al., 1997; Xu and Wells,
1996; Lykkesfeldt et al., 1998; Kagen et al., 1992).
R-lipoic acid administration
has been reported to result in increased ambulatory activity and improved memory
in aged animals and to partially restore age-associated mitochondrial decay in
both the liver and heart.
Results with previous studies suggest that R-Lipoic
acid may be an effective neuroprotective agent in age-associated neurodegeneration.
Utilizing the PC 12 cell model system, we propose that R-Lipoic acid administration
could be an effective way of circumventing or delaying mitochondrial dysfunction
associated with PD.
Treatment with R-Lipoic acid alone seems to significantly
increase GSH levels only in whole cell preparations but not in mitochondrial extracts.
However, pretreatment of cells with R-Lipoic acid appears to prevent BSO-mediated
GSH depletion in both whole cells and mitochondria. Decreases in mitochondrial
NADH dehydrogenase activity associated with GSH depletion also appear to be preserved
via R-Lipoic acid pretreatment.
Antioxidant Home:
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