Cyclooxygenase-2 is involved in oxidative damage and alpha-synuclein accumulation in dopaminergic cells.
Neurosci Lett. 2008 May 9;436(2):205-9
Authors: Chae SW, Kang BY, Hwang O, Choi HJ
Cyclooxygenase (COX) is the rate-limiting enzyme that catalyzes the formation of prostaglandins from arachidonic acid. The inducible isoform COX-2 is upregulated in the dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra of postmortem Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and in neurotoxin-induced Parkinsonism models. COX-2 has attracted significant attention as an important source of oxidative stress in dopaminergic neurons due to its potential to oxidize catechols including dopamine. However, the role of COX-2 in the pathogenesis of PD has not been fully evaluated. Here, we show that COX-2 induces dopamine oxidation, as evidenced by the findings that COX-2 can facilitate dopamine oxidation in a cell-free system and in COX-2-overexpressing SH-SY5Y cells, and that this can be completely abolished by the selective COX-2 inhibitor meloxicam. Increased COX-2 expression causes oxidative protein modification and alpha-synuclein accumulation in dopaminergic cells. These data suggest that an abnormal increase in COX-2 expression causes dopamine oxidation and contributes to the preferential vulnerability of dopaminergic cells as in PD.
PMID: 18403118 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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