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Vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) is up-regulated and exogenous VEGF-B is neuroprotective in a culture model of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) results from the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and the consequent deficit of dopamine released in the striatum. Current oral dopamine replacement or surgical therapies do not address the underlying issue of neurodegeneration, they neither...

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Autores principales: Falk, Torsten, Zhang, Shiling, Sherman, Scott J
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799405/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20003314
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1750-1326-4-49
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author Falk, Torsten
Zhang, Shiling
Sherman, Scott J
author_facet Falk, Torsten
Zhang, Shiling
Sherman, Scott J
author_sort Falk, Torsten
collection PubMed
description Parkinson's disease (PD) results from the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and the consequent deficit of dopamine released in the striatum. Current oral dopamine replacement or surgical therapies do not address the underlying issue of neurodegeneration, they neither slow nor halt disease. Neurotrophic factors have shown preclinical promise, but the choice of an appropriate growth factor as well as the delivery has proven difficult. In this study, we used a rotenone rat midbrain culture model to identify genes that are changed after addition of the neurotoxin. (1) We challenged rat midbrain cultures with rotenone (20 nM), a pesticide that has been shown to be toxic for dopaminergic neurons and that has been a well-characterized model of PD. A gene chip array analysis demonstrated that several genes were up-regulated after the rotenone treatment. Interestingly transcriptional activation of vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) was evident, while vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) levels remained unaltered. The results from the gene chip array experiment were verified with real time PCR and semi-quantitative western analysis using β-actin as the internal standard. (2) We have also found evidence that exogenously applied VEGF-B performed as a neuroprotective agent facilitating neuron survival in an even more severe rotenone culture model of PD (40 nM rotenone). VEGF-B has very recently been added to the list of trophic factors that reduce effects of neurodegeneration, as was shown in an in vivo model of motor neuron degeneration, while lacking potential adverse angiogenic activity. The data of an in vivo protective effect on motor neurons taken together with the presented results demonstrate that VEGF-B is a new candidate trophic factor distinct from the GDNF family of trophic factors. VEGF-B is activated by neurodegenerative challenges to the midbrain, and exogenous application of VEGF-B has a neuroprotective effect in a culture model of PD. Strengthening this natural protective response by either adding exogenous VEGF-B or up-regulating the endogenous VEGF-B levels may have the potential to be a disease modifying therapy for PD. We conclude that the growth factor VEGF-B can improve neuronal survival in a culture model of PD.
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spelling pubmed-27994052009-12-30 Vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) is up-regulated and exogenous VEGF-B is neuroprotective in a culture model of Parkinson's disease Falk, Torsten Zhang, Shiling Sherman, Scott J Mol Neurodegener Short Report Parkinson's disease (PD) results from the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and the consequent deficit of dopamine released in the striatum. Current oral dopamine replacement or surgical therapies do not address the underlying issue of neurodegeneration, they neither slow nor halt disease. Neurotrophic factors have shown preclinical promise, but the choice of an appropriate growth factor as well as the delivery has proven difficult. In this study, we used a rotenone rat midbrain culture model to identify genes that are changed after addition of the neurotoxin. (1) We challenged rat midbrain cultures with rotenone (20 nM), a pesticide that has been shown to be toxic for dopaminergic neurons and that has been a well-characterized model of PD. A gene chip array analysis demonstrated that several genes were up-regulated after the rotenone treatment. Interestingly transcriptional activation of vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) was evident, while vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) levels remained unaltered. The results from the gene chip array experiment were verified with real time PCR and semi-quantitative western analysis using β-actin as the internal standard. (2) We have also found evidence that exogenously applied VEGF-B performed as a neuroprotective agent facilitating neuron survival in an even more severe rotenone culture model of PD (40 nM rotenone). VEGF-B has very recently been added to the list of trophic factors that reduce effects of neurodegeneration, as was shown in an in vivo model of motor neuron degeneration, while lacking potential adverse angiogenic activity. The data of an in vivo protective effect on motor neurons taken together with the presented results demonstrate that VEGF-B is a new candidate trophic factor distinct from the GDNF family of trophic factors. VEGF-B is activated by neurodegenerative challenges to the midbrain, and exogenous application of VEGF-B has a neuroprotective effect in a culture model of PD. Strengthening this natural protective response by either adding exogenous VEGF-B or up-regulating the endogenous VEGF-B levels may have the potential to be a disease modifying therapy for PD. We conclude that the growth factor VEGF-B can improve neuronal survival in a culture model of PD. BioMed Central 2009-12-10 /pmc/articles/PMC2799405/ /pubmed/20003314 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1750-1326-4-49 Text en Copyright ©2009 Falk et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Short Report
Falk, Torsten
Zhang, Shiling
Sherman, Scott J
Vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) is up-regulated and exogenous VEGF-B is neuroprotective in a culture model of Parkinson's disease
title Vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) is up-regulated and exogenous VEGF-B is neuroprotective in a culture model of Parkinson's disease
title_full Vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) is up-regulated and exogenous VEGF-B is neuroprotective in a culture model of Parkinson's disease
title_fullStr Vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) is up-regulated and exogenous VEGF-B is neuroprotective in a culture model of Parkinson's disease
title_full_unstemmed Vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) is up-regulated and exogenous VEGF-B is neuroprotective in a culture model of Parkinson's disease
title_short Vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) is up-regulated and exogenous VEGF-B is neuroprotective in a culture model of Parkinson's disease
title_sort vascular endothelial growth factor b (vegf-b) is up-regulated and exogenous vegf-b is neuroprotective in a culture model of parkinson's disease
topic Short Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799405/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20003314
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1750-1326-4-49
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