Abstract
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is recognized as the second most common neurodegenerative disorder and is characterized by a slow and progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Despite intensive research, the mechanisms involved in neuronal loss are not completely understood yet; however, misfolded proteins, oxidative stress, excitotoxicity and inflammation play a pivotal role in the progression of the pathology. Neuroinflammation may have a greater function in PD pathogenesis than initially believed, taking part in the cascade of events that leads to neuronal death. To date, no efficient therapy, able to arrest or slow down PD, is available. In this context, the need to find novel strategies to counteract neurodegenerative progression by influencing diseases’ pathogenesis is becoming increasingly clear. Isothiocyanates (ITCs) have already shown interesting properties in detoxification, inflammation, apoptosis and cell cycle regulation through the induction of phase I and phase II enzyme systems. Moreover, ITCs may be able to modulate several key points in oxidative and inflammatory evolution. In view of these considerations, the aim of the present review is to describe ITCs as pleiotropic compounds capable of preventing and modulating the evolution of PD.
Highlights
Neurodegenerative diseases are estimated to surpass cancer as the most important cause of death by the 2040s [1]
This study demonstrated that the amount of GFAP-positive astrocytes is inversely proportional to the number of dead dopaminergic cells, so neurons are more susceptible to the neurodegenerative process if there is a lack of astrocytes [55]
Microglia and astrocytes are both involved in the neuroinflammatory response, and usually, they are converted to the reactive isoform in concert; for this reason, it is not easy to distinguish their contribution to neuroinflammation
Summary
Neurodegenerative diseases are estimated to surpass cancer as the most important cause of death by the 2040s [1]. The term neurodegeneration defines a variety of conditions that modify normal neuronal functions in the human brain, where it is possible to observe a progressive and consistent cells loss This definition identifies different pathologies, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and so forth. The mechanisms involved in the evolution of these conditions are not completely understood yet; they share common characteristics, such as misfolded proteins, oxidative stress, inflammation, excitotoxicity and, obviously, neuronal loss [2,3]. ITCs are able to modulate the oxidative condition and the inflammatory process [11,12] These compounds have been widely studied as antitumoral agents [13], and they have shown interesting effects against cardiovascular [14,15,16], CNS [17,18] and skin diseases [19]. We have summarized the effects of sulforaphane (SFN), erucin (ER), phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) and 6-(methylsulfinyl)hexyl isothiocyanate (6-MSITC) on the evolution of PD
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