Abstract
Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) manifest nonmotor and motor symptoms. Autonomic cardiovascular dysregulation is a common nonmotor manifestation associated with increased morbimortality. Conventional clinical treatment alleviates motor signs but does not change disease progression and fails in handling nonmotor features. Nutrition is a key modifiable determinant of chronic disease. This study aimed to assess the effects of propolis on cardiological features, heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) and on nigrostriatal dopaminergic damage, detected by tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity, in the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) rat model of PD. Male Wistar rats were injected bilaterally with 6-OHDA or saline into the striatum and were treated with propolis or water for 40 days. Autonomic function was assessed by time domain parameters (standard deviation of all normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN) and square root of the mean of the squared differences between adjacent normal RR intervals (RMSSD)) of HRV calculated from electrocardiogram recordings. Reductions in HR (p = 1.47 × 10−19), SDNN (p = 3.42 × 10−10) and RMSSD (p = 8.2 × 10−6) detected in parkinsonian rats were reverted by propolis. Propolis attenuated neuronal loss in the substantia nigra (p = 5.66 × 10−15) and reduced striatal fiber degeneration (p = 7.4 × 10−5) in 6-OHDA-injured rats, which also showed significant weight gain (p = 1.07 × 10−5) in comparison to 6-OHDA-lesioned counterparts. Propolis confers cardioprotection and neuroprotection in the 6-OHDA rat model of PD.
Highlights
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a frequent and debilitating age-related neurodegenerative disease associated with health deterioration and augmented risk of mortality [1,2]
The results showed a significant difference between all groups for heart rate (HR) parameter when compared to 6-OHDA group and to 6-OHDA + P group (Figure 5A)
Our results showed that 6-OHDA injection resulted in an average reduction of 53.38% in the dopaminergic neuronal nuclei in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) area and an average reduction of 25% in the striatal fibers compared to the control group
Summary
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a frequent and debilitating age-related neurodegenerative disease associated with health deterioration and augmented risk of mortality [1,2]. The core motor clinical manifestations of PD resulting from the progressive loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic signaling are the pathological emblem of the disease, PD is accompanied by a constellation of nonmotor features that lead to substantial burden for PD patients and impair their quality of life [5,6]. Autonomic dysfunctions have incited great clinical interest since they frequently appear as PD nonmotor symptoms, afflicting up to 90% of PD individuals and imposing considerable burden in terms of morbimortality [7]. A prospective epidemiological study revealed the association between reduced HRV measures in subjects without PD and augmented risk of developing the disease [10]
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