Enriched Environment Contributes to the Recovery from Neurotoxin-Induced Parkinson’s Disease Pathology

• Published in: Molecular neurobiology 2024-09, Vol.61 (9), p.6734-6753
• Main Authors: Alcalá-Zúniga, Daphne, Espinoza-Torres, Erika, Das, Ranjit Kumar, Vargas, Magaly, Maldonado, Oscar, Benavides, Omar, Manojkumar, Arvind, de la Garza, Roberto, Davila, Natalia, Perez, Isaac, Martinez, Alejandro Hernandez, Roy, Deepa, López-Juárez, Alejandro, Zarei, Masoud M., Baker, Kelsey A., Gil, Mario, Rodrigo, Hansapani, de Erausquin, Gabriel A., Roy, Upal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal models; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Biomarkers; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell Biology; Cytotoxicity; Dopamine; Dopamine - metabolism; Dopamine receptors; Dopaminergic Neurons - drug effects; Dopaminergic Neurons - metabolism; Dopaminergic Neurons - pathology; Down-regulation; Enrichment; Environment; Exercise; Laboratory animals; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Molecular modelling; Movement disorders; Mutation; Neurobiology; Neurodegeneration; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neurology; Neuroprotection; Neurosciences; Neurotoxins - toxicity; Oxidation; Oxidative stress; Parkinson Disease - pathology; Parkinson's disease; Pathology; Physical fitness; Protein Deglycase DJ-1 - genetics; Protein Deglycase DJ-1 - metabolism; Proteins; Recovery of Function - drug effects
• ISSN: 0893-7648; 1559-1182; 1559-1182
• DOI: 10.1007/s12035-024-03951-w

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurological disorder that affects dopaminergic neurons. The lack of understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms of PD pathology makes treating it a challenge. Several pieces of evidence support the protective role of enriched environment (EE) and exercise on dopaminergic neurons. The specific aspect(s) of neuroprotection after exposure to EE have not been identified. Therefore, we have investigated the protective role of EE on dopamine dysregulation and subsequent downregulation of DJ1 protein using in vitro and in vivo models of PD. Our study for the first time demonstrated that DJ1 expression has a direct correlation with dopamine downregulation in PD models and exposure to EE has a significant impact on improving the behavioral changes in PD mice. This research provides evidence that exercise in EE has a positive effect on PD without interfering with the current line of therapy.