Abstract
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most prevalent late-age onset neurodegenerative disorder, affecting 1% of the population after the age of about 60 years old and 4% of those over 80 years old, causing motor impairments and cognitive dysfunction. Increasing evidence indicates that Mediterranean diet (MD) exerts beneficial effects in maintaining health, especially during ageing and by the prevention of neurodegenerative disorders. In this regard, olive oil and its biophenolic constituents like hydroxytyrosol (HT) have received growing attention in the past years. Thus, in the current study we test the health-promoting effects of two hydroxytyrosol preparations, pure HT and Hidrox® (HD), which is hydroxytyrosol in its “natural” environment, in the established invertebrate model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. HD exposure led to much stronger beneficial locomotion effects in wild type worms compared to HT in the same concentration. Consistent to this finding, in OW13 worms, a PD-model characterized by α-synuclein expression in muscles, HD exhibited a significant higher effect on α-synuclein accumulation and swim performance than HT, an effect partly confirmed also in swim assays with the UA44 strain, which features α-synuclein expression in DA-neurons. Interestingly, beneficial effects of HD and HT treatment with similar strength were detected in the lifespan and autofluorescence of wild-type nematodes, in the neuronal health of UA44 worms as well as in the locomotion of rotenone-induced PD-model. Thus, the hypothesis that HD features higher healthspan-promoting abilities than HT was at least partly confirmed. Our study demonstrates that HD polyphenolic extract treatment has the potential to partly prevent or even treat ageing-related neurodegenerative diseases and ageing itself. Future investigations including mammalian models and human clinical trials are needed to uncover the full potential of these olive compounds.
Highlights
Emerging research has recently focused on increasing the life expectancy of humans which is, accompanied by a progressively greater prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders, notablyParkinson’s disease (PD)
Our recent in vivo study with olive polyphenols has demonstrated that HT and oleuropein aglycone (OLE) exert neuroprotective effects, an improved overall healthspan and, in part, longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) models of PD and wild type [15]
The results of HT treatment are shown in addition to enable the direct comparison between pure and mixed polyphenol treatments
Summary
Emerging research has recently focused on increasing the life expectancy of humans which is, accompanied by a progressively greater prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders, notablyParkinson’s disease (PD). HT activates the Nrf2–antioxidant response element (ARE) pathway, leading to the activation of phase II detoxifying enzymes and the protection of dopaminergic neurons exposed to hydrogen peroxide or to 6-hydroxydopamine [22,23] This is consistent with the idea that neurohormesis may have anti-aging effects due to induction of adaptive pathways triggered to cope with a mild neuronal stress and open novel potential therapeutic strategies for clinical interventions against the onset and/or progression of PD in humans. In these ways, neurohormetic polyphenols might protect neurons against injury and disease by stimulating the production of antioxidant enzymes, neurotrophic factors, protein chaperones and other proteins that help cells to withstand stress [24,25]. Our recent in vivo study with olive polyphenols has demonstrated that HT and OLE exert neuroprotective effects, an improved overall healthspan and, in part, longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) models of PD and wild type [15]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
