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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter October 15, 2021

Inhibitory effect of mitoquinone against the α-synuclein fibrillation and relevant neurotoxicity: possible role in inhibition of Parkinson’s disease

  • Gege Yu , Yonghui Wang and Jinhua Zhao EMAIL logo
From the journal Biological Chemistry

Abstract

Extensive studies have reported that interaction of α-synuclein amyloid species with neurons is a crucial mechanistic characteristic of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and small molecules can downregulate the neurotoxic effects induced by protein aggregation. However, the exact mechanism(s) of these neuroprotective effects by small molecules remain widely unknown. In the present study, α-synuclein samples in the amyloidogenic condition were aged for 120 h with or without different concentrations of mitoquinone (MitoQ) as a quinone derivative compound and the amyloid characteristics and the relevant neurotoxicity were evaluated by Thioflavin T (ThT)/Nile red fluorescence, Congo red absorption, circular dichroism (CD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), cell viability, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and caspase-9/-3 activity assays. Results clearly showed the capacity of MitoQ on the inhibition of the formation of α-synuclein fibrillation products through modulation of the aggregation pathway by an effect on the kinetic parameters. Also, it was shown that α-synuclein samples aged for 120 h with MitoQ trigger less neurotoxic effects against SH-SY5Y cells than α-synuclein amyloid alone. Indeed, co-incubation of α-synuclein with MitoQ reduced the membrane leakage, oxidative and nitro-oxidative stress, modifications of macromolecules, and apoptosis.


Corresponding author: Jinhua Zhao, Department of Neurology, The First People’s Hospital of Xianyang, No. 10, Biyuan Road, Qindu District, 712000, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, China, E-mail:
Gege Yu and Yonghui Wang contributed equally to this work.

Acknowledgments

We thank our colleagues for many scientific discussions and support of the last years.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests associated with this work.

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Received: 2021-07-08
Accepted: 2021-09-16
Published Online: 2021-10-15
Published in Print: 2022-02-23

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