Background:Glutamate excitotoxicity caused by dysfunctional glutamate transporters plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD); however, the mechanisms that underlie the regulation of glutamate transporters in PD are still not fully elucidated. MicroRNAs have been reported to play key roles in regulating the translation of glutamate-transporter mRNA.Methods: We established model of PD 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-treated mice in vivo and 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP + ) treated astrocyte in vitro. Stereotaxic injection of shRNA in mouse, and miRNA inhibitor/mimic, or antagonist/agonist treated the cell model, Behavioral experiments, glutamic acid uptake, transport activity of synaptosomes, underlying mechanisms and the impact on neuronal survival were assessed.
ResultsWe demonstrated that short-hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown of miR-30a-5p ameliorated motor de cits and pathological changes like astrogliosis and reactive microgliosis in a mouse model of PD. Western blotting and immuno uorescent labeling revealed that miR-30a-5p suppressed the expression and function of GLT-1 in MPTP-treated mice and speci cally in astrocytes treated with (cell model of PD).Conclusion Both in vitro and in vivo, we found that miR-30a-5p knockdown promoted glutamate uptake and increased GLT-1 expression by hindering GLT-1 ubiquitination and subsequent degradation in a PKCα-dependent manner. Therefore, miR-30a-5p represents a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of PD.
BackgroundParkinson's disease (PD) is an age-associated movement disorder whose pathological hallmark is the progressive death of dopaminergic cells in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) coupled with the accumulation of Lewy bodies containing alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) [1]. Several different mechanisms are believed to contribute to the death of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in PD, including genetic factors [2-5], environmental factors [6,7], neuroin ammation [8-10] and glutamate excitotoxicity [11][12][13][14][15][16]. The role of glutamate excitotoxicity in the development of PD has become increasingly important in recent years. Glutamate transporters play a predominant role in clearing excess glutamate from the synaptic cleft. Five mammalian excitatory-amino-acid transporters (EAATs) have been characterized: glutamate/aspartate transporter (GLAST, also called EAAT1), glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1, also called EAAT2), excitatory amino acid carrier-1 (EAAC1, also called EAAT3), EAAT4, and EAAT5[17-23. Among the glutamate transporters, GLT-1, found on astrocytes, is the most critical in the development of PD because it is responsible for the uptake of nearly 90% of synaptic glutamate [14,24].Based on our previous studies, upregulation of GLT-1 could signi cantly improve the motor de cits and pathological changes in mice treated with 1-methyl-4phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) [14,15]. We showed that rapamycin and Nedd4-2 knockdown ameliorated movement abnormalities in a PD mouse model and increased t...