RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Feruloylated oligosaccharides (FOs) are natural esterification products of ferulic acid and oligosaccharides. STUDY DESIGN: In this study, we examined whether FOs contribute to the ensured survival of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons and inhibition of neuroinflammation in Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS: 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP, 30 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally into mice to establish a Parkinson's disease (PD) mouse model. FOs (15 and 30 mg/kg) were orally administered daily to the MPTP-treated mice. The rotarod test, balance beam test, immunofluorescence, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), quantitative PCR (qPCR), and western blot analyses were performed to examine the neuroprotective effects of FOs on MPTP-treated mice. RESULTS: Our study indicated that FOs increased the survival of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) of the MPTP-treated mice. The neuroprotective effects of FOs were accompanied by inhibited glial activation and reduced inflammatory cytokine production. The mechanistic experiments revealed that the neuroprotective effects of FOs might be mediated through the activation of the ERK/CREB/BDNF/TrkB signalling pathway. CONCLUSION: This study provides new insights into the mechanism underlying the anti-neuroinflammatory effect of phytochemicals and may facilitate the development of dietary supplements for PD patients. Our results indicate that FOs can be used as potential modulators for the prevention and treatment of PD.
Asunto(s)
Intoxicación por MPTP , Fármacos Neuroprotectores , Enfermedad de Parkinson , Ratones , Animales , 1-Metil-4-fenil-1,2,3,6-Tetrahidropiridina/metabolismo , 1-Metil-4-fenil-1,2,3,6-Tetrahidropiridina/farmacología , 1-Metil-4-fenil-1,2,3,6-Tetrahidropiridina/uso terapéutico , Factor Neurotrófico Derivado del Encéfalo/metabolismo , Enfermedad de Parkinson/tratamiento farmacológico , Enfermedad de Parkinson/metabolismo , Fármacos Neuroprotectores/farmacología , Fármacos Neuroprotectores/uso terapéutico , Ratones Endogámicos C57BL , Intoxicación por MPTP/tratamiento farmacológico , Intoxicación por MPTP/metabolismo , Intoxicación por MPTP/prevención & control , Neuronas Dopaminérgicas , Modelos Animales de Enfermedad , Oligosacáridos/farmacologíaRESUMEN
This paper presents an interactive exoskeleton device for hand rehabilitation, iHandRehab, which aims to satisfy the essential requirements for both active and passive rehabilitation motions. iHandRehab is comprised of exoskeletons for the thumb and index finger. These exoskeletons are driven by distant actuation modules through a cable/sheath transmission mechanism. The exoskeleton for each finger has 4 degrees of freedom (DOF), providing independent control for all finger joints. The joint motion is accomplished by a parallelogram mechanism so that the joints of the device and their corresponding finger joints have the same angular displacement when they rotate. Thanks to this design, the joint angles can be measured by sensors real time and high level motion control is therefore made very simple without the need of complicated kinematics. The paper also discusses important issues when the device is used by different patients, including its adjustable joint range of motion (ROM) and adjustable range of phalanx length (ROPL). Experimentally collected data show that the achieved ROM is close to that of a healthy hand and the ROPL covers the size of a typical hand, satisfying the size need of regular hand rehabilitation. In order to evaluate the performance when it works as a haptic device in active mode, the equivalent moment of inertia (MOI) of the device is calculated. The results prove that the device has low inertia which is critical in order to obtain good backdrivability. Experimental analysis shows that the influence of friction accounts for a large portion of the driving torque and warrants future investigation.
