hu-308 and Parkinsonian-Disorders

L-dopa induced dyskinesia (LID) is a debilitating side-effect of the primary treatment used in Parkinson's disease (PD), l-dopa. Here we investigate the effect of HU-308, a cannabinoid CB2 receptor agonist, on LIDs. Utilizing a mouse model of PD and LIDs, induced by 6-OHDA and subsequent l-dopa treatment, we show that HU-308 reduced LIDs as effectively as amantadine, the current frontline treatment. Furthermore, treatment with HU-308 plus amantadine resulted in a greater anti-dyskinetic effect than maximally achieved with HU-308 alone, potentially suggesting a synergistic effect of these two treatments. Lastly, we demonstrated that treatment with HU-308 and amantadine either alone, or in combination, decreased striatal neuroinflammation, a mechanism which has been suggested to contribute to LIDs. Taken together, our results suggest pharmacological treatments with CB2 agonists merit further investigation as therapies for LIDs in PD patients. Furthermore, since CB2 receptors are thought to be primarily expressed on, and signal through, glia, our data provide weight to suggestion that neuroinflammation, or more specifically, altered glial function, plays a role in development of LIDs.

Topics: Amantadine; Animals; Antiparkinson Agents; Camphanes; Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists; Cannabinoids; Disease Models, Animal; Dopamine Agents; Dyskinesia, Drug-Induced; Levodopa; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Parkinsonian Disorders; Pyrazoles; Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB2

Inflammation is an important pathogenic factor in Parkinson's disease (PD), so that it can contribute to kill dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra and to enhance the dopaminergic denervation of the striatum. The cannabinoid type-2 (CB2) receptor has been investigated as a potential anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective target in different neurodegenerative disorders, but still limited evidence has been collected in PD. Here, we show for the first time that CB2 receptors are elevated in microglial cells recruited and activated at lesioned sites in the substantia nigra of PD patients compared to control subjects. Parkinsonian inflammation can be reproduced experimentally in rodents by intrastriatal injections of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) which, through an intense activation of glial elements and peripheral infiltration, provokes a rapid deterioration of the striatum that may extend to the substantia nigra too. Using this experimental model, we recently described a much more intense deterioration of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-containing nigral neurons in CB2 receptor-deficient mice compared to wild-type animals, supporting a potential neuroprotective role for this receptor. In the present study, we further explored this issue. First, we found elevated levels of the CB2 receptor measured by qRT-PCR in the striatum and substantia nigra of LPS-lesioned mice, as well as an increase in the immunostaining for this receptor in the LPS-lesioned striatum. Second, we found a significant increase in CD68 immunostaining, which serve to identify activated microglia and also infiltrated peripheral macrophages, in these brain structures in response to LPS insult, which was much more intense in CB2 receptor-deficient mice in the case of the substantia nigra. Next, we observed that the activation of CB2 receptors with a selective agonist (HU-308) reversed LPS-induced elevation of CD68 immunostaining in the striatum and the parallel reduction in TH immunostaining. Lastly, we found that LPS elevated the gene expression of different pro-inflammatory mediators in both the striatum and the substantia nigra, whereas the selective activation of CB2 receptors reduced a part of these mediators, e.g. inducible nitric oxide synthase, although exclusively in the striatum. In conclusion, we have provided the first evidence on the up-regulation of CB2 receptors in glial elements in postmortem tissues of PD patients, which has been confirmed in an inflammatory model of this disease.

Topics: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Animals; Antiparkinson Agents; Cannabinoid Receptor Modulators; Cannabinoids; Corpus Striatum; Female; Humans; Lipopolysaccharides; Macrophages; Male; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Knockout; Microglia; Middle Aged; Parkinsonian Disorders; Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB2; Substantia Nigra

We have recently demonstrated that two plant-derived cannabinoids, Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol (CBD), are neuroprotective in an animal model of Parkinson's disease (PD), presumably because of their antioxidant properties. To further explore this issue, we examined the neuroprotective effects of a series of cannabinoid-based compounds, with more selectivity for different elements of the cannabinoid signalling system, in rats with unilateral lesions of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons caused by local application of 6-hydroxydopamine. We used the CB1 receptor agonist arachidonyl-2-chloroethylamide (ACEA), the CB2 receptor agonist HU-308, the non-selective agonist WIN55,212-2, and the inhibitors of the endocannabinoid inactivation AM404 and UCM707, all of them administered i.p. Daily administration of ACEA or WIN55,212-2 did not reverse 6-hydroxydopamine-induced dopamine (DA) depletion in the lesioned side, whereas HU-308 produced a small recovery that supports a possible involvement of CB2 but not CB1 receptors. AM404 produced a marked recovery of 6-hydroxydopamine-induced DA depletion and tyrosine hydroxylase deficit in the lesioned side. Possibly, this is caused by the antioxidant properties of AM404, which are derived from the presence of a phenolic group in its structure, rather than by the capability of AM404 to block the endocannabinoid transporter, because UCM707, another transporter inhibitor devoid of antioxidant properties, did not produce the same effect. None of these effects were observed in non-lesioned contralateral structures. We also examined the timing for the effect of CBD to provide neuroprotection in this rat model of PD. We found that CBD, as expected, was able to recover 6-hydroxydopamine-induced DA depletion when it was administered immediately after the lesion, but it failed to do that when the treatment started 1 week later. In addition, the effect of CBD implied an upregulation of mRNA levels for Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase, a key enzyme in endogenous defenses against oxidative stress. In summary, our results indicate that those cannabinoids having antioxidant cannabinoid receptor-independent properties provide neuroprotection against the progressive degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons occurring in PD. In addition, the activation of CB2 (but not CB1) receptors, or other additional mechanisms, might also contribute to some extent to the potential of cannabinoids in this disease.

Topics: Animals; Antioxidants; Arachidonic Acids; Benzoxazines; Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists; Cannabinoid Receptor Antagonists; Cannabinoids; Disease Models, Animal; Dopamine; Furans; Male; Morpholines; Naphthalenes; Nerve Degeneration; Neuroprotective Agents; Organ Culture Techniques; Oxidative Stress; Oxidopamine; Parkinsonian Disorders; Polyunsaturated Alkamides; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors, Cannabinoid; Superoxide Dismutase; Sympatholytics