Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0030567 (Parkinson's disease)
 63,064 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

1-Methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) is a mitochondrial Complex I inhibitor and is frequently used to investigate the pathological degeneration of neurons associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). In vitro, extracellular concentration of glucose is one of the most critical factors in establishing the vulnerability of neurons to MPP+ toxicity. While glucose is the primary energy fuel for the brain, central nervous system (CNS) neurons can also take up and utilize other metabolic intermediates for energy. In this study, we compared various monosaccharides, disaccharides, nutritive/non-nutritive sugar alcohols, glycolytic and gluconeogenic metabolic intermediates for their cytoprotection against MPP+ in murine brain neuroblastoma cells. Several monosaccharides were effective against MMP+ (500 microM) including glucose, fructose and mannose, which restored cell viability to 109 +/- 5%, 70 +/- 5%, 99 +/- 3% of live controls, respectively. Slight protective effects were observed in the presence of 3-phosphoglyceric acid and glucose-6-phosphate; however, no protective effects were exhibited by galactose, sucrose, sorbitol, mannitol, glycerol or various gluconeogenic and ketogenic amino acids. On the other hand, fructose 1,6 bisphosphate and gluconeogenic energy intermediates [pyruvic acid, malic acid and phospho(enol)pyruvate (PEP)] were neuroprotective against MPP+. The gluconeogenic intermediates elevated intracellular levels of ATP and reduced propidium iodide (PI) nucleic acid staining to live controls, but did not alter the MPP(+)-induced loss of mitochondrial O2 consumption. These data indicate that malic acid, pyruvic acid and PEP contribute to anaerobic substrate level phosphorylation. The use of hydrazine sulfate to impede gluconeogenesis through PEP carboxykinase (PEPCK) inhibition heightened the protective effects of energy substrates possibly due to attenuated ATP demands from pyruvate carboxylase (PC) activity and pyruvate mitochondrial transport. It was concluded from these studies that several metabolic intermediates are effective in fueling anaerobic glycolysis during mitochondrial inhibition by MPP+.
 ...
PMID:The role of glycolysis and gluconeogenesis in the cytoprotection of neuroblastoma cells against 1-methyl 4-phenylpyridinium ion toxicity. 1256 89

Homocysteine is an amino acid that is an important risk factor for several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Increased homocysteine levels induce neuronal cell death in a variety of neuronal types. However, very few studies have probed the effects of homocysteine in astrocytes. The present study investigated the effects of homocysteine on primary cultures of astrocytes by exposing astrocytes to 400 microM homocysteine for 20 h. Metabolic extracts of cells were prepared following a 4-h incubation in minimum medium with 5.5 mM [U-(13)C]glucose in the presence or absence of homocysteine and analysed using (13)C NMR. The expression level of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase isoform 2 (PDK-2), NAD(P)H levels and mitochondrial membrane potential responses were investigated following culture with homocysteine. Metabolomic analysis was performed using (1)H NMR spectroscopy and pattern recognition analysis. Following incubation with homocysteine there was a significant decrease (48%) in the ratio of flux through pyruvate carboxylase (PC) and pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) which was due to an increased flux through PDH. In addition, homocysteine culture resulted in a significant reduction in PDK-2 protein expression. Following stimulation with glucose there was a significant increase in NAD(P)H levels and an impaired hyperpolarisation of the mitochondrial membrane in homocysteine-treated cells. Metabolomic analysis showed that the most discriminating metabolites following homocysteine treatment were choline and hypotaurine. In summary, the results demonstrated that sub-lethal concentrations of homocysteine caused significant metabolic changes and altered mitochondrial function in primary cultures of astrocytes.
 ...
PMID:Effects of homocysteine on metabolic pathways in cultured astrocytes. 1841 55

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an important energy sensor located in cells throughout the human body. From the periphery, AMPK is known to be a metabolic master switch controlling the use of energy fuels. The energy sensor is activated when the energy status of the cell is low, initiating energy-producing pathways and deactivating energy-consuming pathways. All brain cells are crucially dependent on energy production for survival, and the availability of energy substrates must be closely regulated. Intriguingly, the role of AMPK in the regulation of brain cell metabolism has been sparsely investigated, particularly in astrocytes. By investigating metabolism of 13 C-labeled energy substrates in acutely isolated hippocampal slices and cultured astrocytes, with subsequent mass spectrometry analysis, we here show that activation of AMPK increases glycolysis as well as the capacity of the TCA cycle, that is, anaplerosis, through the activity of pyruvate carboxylase (PC) in astrocytes. In addition, we demonstrate that AMPK activation leads to augmented astrocytic glutamate oxidation via pyruvate recycling (i.e., cataplerosis). This regulatory mechanism induced by AMPK activation is mediated via glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) shown in a CNS-specific GDH knockout mouse. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that AMPK regulates TCA cycle dynamics in astrocytes via PC and GDH activity. AMPK functionality has been shown to be hampered in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and our findings may therefore add to the toolbox for discovery of new metabolic drug targets.
 ...
PMID:AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) regulates astrocyte oxidative metabolism by balancing TCA cycle dynamics. 3209 15