Potential treatment of Parkinson's disease with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by dysfunction of the nigrostriatal system, loss of dopamine neurons and intracellular aggregation of α-synuclein. Recently, both clinical and experimental studies have reported that neuroinflammation and oxidative stress markedly contribute to the etiology of PD. Current clinical pharmacotherapies only temporarily relieve the symptoms of PD, accompanied by many side effects. Hence, searching for natural anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and neuroprotective agents has received great attention. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially omega (n)-3, are essential lipid nutrients in the human diet and important components of cell membranes. Together by competing with the production of n-6 PUFAs, the precursors of inflammatory mediators, n-3 PUFAs can inhibit microglial activity and neuroinflammation, protect astrocyte function to produce neurotrophins, thereby normalizing neurotransmission and improving neurodegeneration. Thus, with regard to the hypotheses of PD, our and other's recent studies have demonstrated that n-3 PUFAs may improve PD by inhibiting proinflammatory cytokine release, promoting neurotrophic factor expression, recovering mitochondrial function and membrane fluidity, decreasing the levels of oxidant production, maintaining α-synuclein proteostasis, calcium homeostasis, axonal transport, and reducing endoplasmic reticulum stress. This review mainly introduces and analyzes the effect of n-3 PUFA treatments on PD-related behavioral and neuropathological abnormalities in clinical patients and different cellular and animal models of PD. Finally, the limitations and future work in n-3 PUFAs anti-PD area are discussed.

• Authors: Peng Li, Cai Song
• Journal: Nutritional neuroscience (Nutr Neurosci) Vol. 25 Issue 1 Pg. 180-191 (Jan 2022) ISSN: 1476-8305 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 32124682 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Anti-Inflammatory Agents
• Antioxidants
• Fatty Acids, Omega-3
• Nerve Growth Factors
• Neuroprotective Agents
• SNCA protein, human
• alpha-Synuclein

Topics

• Animals
• Anti-Inflammatory Agents
• Antioxidants
• Astrocytes (physiology)
• Fatty Acids, Omega-3 (therapeutic use)
• Humans
• Microglia (drug effects, physiology)
• Nerve Growth Factors (biosynthesis)
• Neuroinflammatory Diseases (complications, prevention & control)
• Neuroprotective Agents
• Oxidative Stress
• Parkinson Disease (drug therapy, etiology)
• alpha-Synuclein (metabolism)