Research Article Neuroprotective Effects of Cuscutae Semen in a Mouse Model of Parkinson’s Disease

Copyright © 2014 Minsook Ye et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative movement disorder that is characterized by the progressive degeneration of the dopaminergic (DA) pathway. 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) causes damage to the DA neurons, and 1-4-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) causes cell death in differentiated PC12 cells that is similar to the degeneration that occurs in PD. Moreover, MPTP treatment increases the activity of the brain’s immune cells, reactive oxygen species- (ROS-) generating processes, and glutathione peroxidase. We recently reported that Cuscutae Semen (CS), a widely used traditional herbal medicine, increases cell viability in a yeast model of PD. In the present study, we examined the inhibitory effect of CS on the neurotoxicity of MPTP in mice and on theMPP+-induced cell death in differentiated PC12 cells.TheMPTP-induced loss of nigral DA neurons was partly inhibited by CS-mediated decreases in ROS generation.The activation ofmicroglia was slightly inhibited by CS, although this effect did not reach statistical significance. Furthermore, CSmay reduce theMPP+ toxicity in PC12 cells by suppressing glutathione peroxidase activation. These results suggest that CS may be beneficial for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as PD. 1