Neuroprotective effect of chitosan nanoparticle gene delivery system grafted with acteoside (ACT) in Parkinson’s disease models

Abstract

Developing new drugs to treat Parkinson's disease efficiently is challenging. Here we report that chitosan nanoparticles (APPDNs) could serve as novel candidates for the design of anti-PD drugs. In this study, we investigated the effects of chitosan poly ethyleneglycol-poly lactic acid (PEG-PLA) nanoparticles conjugated with nerve growth factor (NGF), acteoside (ACT) and plasmid DNA (pDNA) for PD therapy using in vitro and in vivo models. Using PD cell models, we demonstrated that APPDN had good neuroprotective effects. More significantly, experiments using mouse PD models demonstrated that APPDNs could ameliorate the behavioral disorders of sick mice. Immunohistochemical and western blot (WB) analyses demonstrated that APPDNs could significantly reverse dopaminergic (DA) neuron loss in the substantia nigra and striatum of sick mice. This study opens up a novel avenue to develop anti-PD drugs.