RESUMO
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease, closely associated with aging. It is considered incurable due to both late diagnosis and symptomatic treatment, which is able to alter neither molecular mechanisms of sleep disruption nor the neurodegenerative processes, developing with aging and PD progression. In the present study, we assess the therapeutic potential of a novel chaperone inducer U-133 (acetyl 2,3,7-tris-O-glucoside echinochrome) in the preclinical stage of PD modelled in aged rats by the inhibition of the proteasomal system in the brain. U-133 is a derivative of the sea urchin pigment echinochrome (2,3,5,7,8-pentahydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone) produced by glycosylation, which possesses neuroprotective, antioxidant, anticancer properties. The administration of U-133, inducing the synthesis of Hsp70i and Hdj1 heat shock proteins in the brain, precludes the increase of light sleep (drowsiness) stage and the decrease of deep slow-wave sleep total time, both occurring with the progression of the preclinical stage of PD modelled in aged Wistar rats. Deep slow-wave sleep is thought to promote glymphatic clearance and to accelerate protein synthesis. Thus, U-133-induced increase in deep slow-wave sleep percentage, as compared to the preclinical model, is considered having a neuroprotective effect that contributes to the intensification of the restorative function of neurons and counteracts the progressing neurodegeneration.