This work reveals the potential of ursolic acid as a promising treatment candidate for Parkinson's disease. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Ursolic acid attenuates oxidative stress in nigrostriatal tissue and improves neurobehavioral activity in MPTP-induced Parkinsonian mouse model.
J Chem Neuroanat. 2015 Dec 12 ;71:41-49. Epub 2015 Dec 12. PMID: 26686287
Sachchida Nand Rai
Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by a slow and progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) region of brain. Oxidative stress and inflammation plays important role in the neurodegeneration and development of PD. Ursolic Acid (UA: 3β-hydroxy-urs-12-en-28-oic acid) is a natural pentacyclic triterpenoid found in various medicinal plants. Its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity is a well-established fact. In this paper, the neuroprotective efficiency of UA in MPTP induced PD mouse model has been explored. For this purpose, we divided 30 mice into 5 different groups; first was control, second was MPTP-treated, third, fourth and fifth were different doses of UA viz., 5mg/kg, 25mg/kg, and 50mg/kg body weight (wt) respectively, along with MPTP. After 21 days of treatment, different behavioral parameters and biochemicalassays were conducted. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunostaining of SN dopaminergic neurons as well as HPLC quantification of dopamine and its metabolites 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) and homovanilic acid (HVA) were also performed. Our results proved that, UA improves behavioral deficits,restored altered dopamine level and protect dopaminergic neurons in the MPTP intoxicated mouse. Among three different doses, 25mg/kg body wt was the most effective dose for the PD. This work reveals the potential of UA as a promising drug candidate for PD treatment.