The delta‐opioid receptor and Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common degenerative neurological disease leading to a series of familial, medical, and social problems. Although it is known that the major characteristics of PD pathophysiology are the dysfunction of basal ganglia due to injury/loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta dopaminergic and exhaustion of corpus striatum dopamine, therapeutic modalities for PD are limited in clinical settings up to date. It is of utmost importance to better understand PD pathophysiology and explore new solutions for this serious neurodegenerative disorder. Our recent work and those of others suggest that the delta-opioid receptor (DOR) is neuroprotective and serves an antiparkinsonism role in the brain. This review summarizes recent progress in this field and explores potential mechanisms for DOR-mediated antiparkinsonism.

Substance Use Disorders in Patients With Parkinson’s Disease and Adverse Hospitalization Outcomes: A National Inpatient Study

“…Currently, therapy is focused on dopamine depletion, which also brings about additional motor dysfunction, including dyskinesias [23,24]. Delta opioid receptors are densely located in the basal ganglia, and studies, although inconclusive, have shown that activating these receptors leads to motor improvements, especially for dyskinesias resulting from the use of l-dopa [25,26].…”

Update of inflammasome activation in microglia/macrophage in aging and aging‐related disease

“…Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive degenerative CNS disorder that affects the motor system. It is characterized by a profound degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the brain, accompanied by chronic neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and widespread accumulation of α‐synuclein‐rich protein in Lewy's bodies . It has been proved that the α‐synuclein is a potent stimulator of inflammasome.…”

“…It is characterized by a profound degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the brain, accompanied by chronic neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and widespread accumulation of α-synuclein-rich protein in Lewy's bodies. [43][44][45] It has been proved that the α-synuclein is a potent stimulator of inflammasome. Fibrillar α-synuclein in microglia leads to impairment of mitochondrial endocytosis and lysosomal dysfunction, which cause ROS dysregulation and activate inflammasome.…”

Receptor Ligands as Helping Hands to L-DOPA in the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease

“…Opioid receptors, especially δ receptor subtype, and the endogenous opioid peptides enkephalin and dynorphin are expressed in basal ganglia and cortex, where the opioid system modulates the activity of spiny projection neurons in motor disorders such as PD [333,334]. The level of opioid peptides demonstrated to be increased in the striatum, thalamus and anterior cingulate cortex [225] in PD animal models and PD patients exhibiting dyskinesia.…”