Effects of bee venom and dopamine-loaded nanoparticles on reserpine-induced Parkinson’s disease rat model

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive chronic neurodegenerative condition characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons within the substantia nigra. Current PD therapeutic strategies are mainly symptomatic and can lead to motor complications overtime. As a result, alternative medicine may provide an effective adjuvant treatment for PD as an addition to or as a replacement of the conventional therapies. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of Bee Venom (BV) and dopamine (DA)-loaded nanoparticles in a reserpine-induced animal model of PD. After inducing PD with reserpine injection, different groups of male rats were treated with L-Dopa, BV, DA-nanoparticles. Our findings showed that BV and DA-nanoparticles administration restored monoamines, balanced glutamate/GABA levels, halted DNA fragmentation, decreased pro-inflammatory mediators (IL-1β and TNF-α), and elevated anti-inflammatory mediators (PON1) and neurotropic factor (BDNF) levels in comparison with conventional therapy of PD. Furthermore, in a reserpine-induced PD rat model, the ameliorative effects of BV were significantly superior to that of DA-nanoparticles. These findings imply that BV and DA-nanoparticles could be useful as adjuvant treatments for PD.

Immunomodulatory activities and biomedical applications of melittin and its recent advances

“…However, they also found that the cytolytic activity of the diastereomeric variants against host cells was greatly reduced, suggesting that different sequence-structure-function relationships exist for the various biological activities of MLT. [180,181] The region of MLT known as Mel (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26) has received particular attention due to its ability to form alpha-helical structures, which are thought to be important for its biological activity. Various analogs of Mel(12-26) have been synthesized and tested for their effects on membrane disruption and other activities.…”

“…[5][6][7][8][9] Bee venom has at least 18 active compounds with different healing properties, and they comprise different peptides, including melittin (MLT), mast cell degranulation (MCD) peptide, apamin, and adolapine, enzymes such as phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and hyaluronidase, amines such as histamine and epinephrine, nonpeptide components like lipids, carbohydrates, syncline, glycerol, and norepinephrine, and free amino acids are additional components of bee venom. [10,11] Bee venom has an unprecedented ability to treat diseases and has the power to fight ailments such as atherosclerosis, [12] Parkinson's disease (PD), [13] diabetes mellitus, [14] rheumatoid arthritis, [15] and HIV. [16] It is noteworthy to recognize that many of the known properties of bee venom are derived from MLT, a peptide comprising the main toxic constituent of bee venom, ∼40%-60% of the venom dry weight.…”

Parkinson's Disease: Current Status, Diagnosis, and Treatment Using Nanomedicines

“…In addition, the therapeutic benefits of BV were noticeably higher than those of DA nanoparticles, and the application of BV and DA nanoparticles as treatments for PD could be effective. [ 107 ] In the future, the design and development of NPs based dopamine replacement therapy, such as nanoparticles conjugated with dopamine, will show significant potential in PD treatment, resulting in increased safety and quality treatment.…”

Pharmacological effects and mechanisms of bee venom and its main components: Recent progress and perspective

“…BV attenuated motor impairment, decreased oxidative/nitrosative stress, and TNF-α, Caspase-3, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) expression, and increased dopamine (DA) content and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) activity in a rotenone-induced PD mice model ( Badawi et al, 2020 ). Besides, BV restored the levels of DA, norepinephrine and serotonin (5-HT), balanced glutamate/γ-aminobutyric acid levels, prevented DNA fragmentation, reduced TNF-α and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and increased the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and paraoxonase 1 (PON1) level in a reserpine-induced PD rat model ( Ahmed-Farid et al, 2021 ). The above results implied that BV could be a potential adjuvant for PD treatment.…”