Salusin-β mediate neuroprotective effects for Parkinson's disease

Evaluation of salusin-β in paediatric patients with chronic kidney disease or hypertension

PURPOSE

Salusins are newly identified endogenous peptides implicated in the atherosclerotic process. Salusin-β, in particular, is recognized for its proatherogenic role. Given that atherosclerosis can commence in childhood, salusin-β holds promise as a potential biomarker for cardiovascular risk assessment. The objective of our study was to investigate salusin-β levels in children with early stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) or hypertension (HTN), and compare them to healthy controls. Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate its association with obesity and pulse wave velocity (PWV), the latter being a well-established marker for determining arterial elasticity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This cross-sectional study involved 96 paediatric patients, including 46 with CKD and 50 with HTN, as well as 33 healthy controls. Anthropometric measurements, PWV assessments, serum salusin-β values, and basic laboratory investigations were conducted for all participants.

RESULTS

Salusin-β levels were found to be elevated in patients with CKD (p ​= ​0.014), but not in patients with HTN when compared to healthy controls. When correlating salusin-β levels with PWV, a significant but weak correlation was observed (r ​= ​0.211, p ​= ​0.020).

CONCLUSIONS

Salusin-β levels were elevated in paediatric patients with CKD. Additionally, salusin-β levels correlated significantly with PWV. Obesity played a smaller role in these correlations, with significant correlations observed only after combining cardiovascular risk factors revealing certain associations between salusin-β levels and some cardiovascular variables, but with inconclusive findings and, in some instances, even contrary to anticipated outcomes.

Serum salusin levels in diarrhea- and constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome

Objective

Inflammation and immunity play major roles in the etiopathogenesis of functional intestinal disorders. The salusins that were identified in this study are important because of their ease of collection, sensitivity and reliability. For that reason, the aim of this study was to analyze the importance of the levels of salusin in the blood, an inflammation-related parameter, in the diagnosis and prediction of irritable bowel disease.

Methodology

The study participants included 28 diagnosed with constipation-predominant IBS, 29 (34.1%) diagnosed with diarrhea-predominant IBS (D-IBS), and 28 (32.9%) controls. Enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay (ELISA) method has been used for the measurement of salusin levels.

Results

Participants were 50 (58.8%) female and 35 (41.2%) male. The serum levels of salusin-α were substantially reduced in the diarrhea-predominant IBS group vs controls. There was also no major difference in the levels of salusin between the constipation-predominant-IBS and the diarrhea-predominant IBS group.

Conclusion

A major prognostic relationship was found between the level of salusins and the subgroup of D-IBS. It is well known that salusins have been related to inflammatory processes and oxidative injury in previous studies. The relationship between salusin and gastrointestinal diseases should be further investigated. Low-grade submucosal intestinal inflammation is also associated with irritable bowel syndrome. It is our belief that salusins may be useful in diagnosing, predicting or treating IBS.

Relationship between salusin beta levels and the severity of acute pancreatitis in patients

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to evaluate the significance of serum salusin beta (SAL-β) levels in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis (AP) in patients diagnosed with this condition and to assess its relationship with disease and prognosis.

METHODS

Sixty-four patients between 18 and 100 years of age diagnosed with AP, were included in the study. Patients were categorized into 3 groups based on the Revised Atlanta Classification: mild, moderate, and severe AP. Eighteen healthy adults were included as the control group. Sex, age, height, weight, presence of additional diseases, laboratory results, imaging findings, levels of white blood cells, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, mean platelet volume, amylase, lipase, sensitive C-reactive protein, sedimentation, and serum SAL-β were measured and recorded. SAL-β levels were reevaluated on the third day of hospitalization.

RESULTS

The average age of the patients included in the study was 62.66 ± 17.67. Gallstones were present in 64.1% of the patients. The difference in the SAL-β averages on the 1st and 3rd days was statistically significant (P < .05). On the first day, the SAL-β averages of those with severe Atlanta scores were higher than those with mild and moderate Atlanta severity. Similarly, on the third day, the SAL-β averages of those with severe Atlanta scores were higher than those with mild and moderate Atlanta severity. According to receiver operating characteristic analysis using the Youden index, the cutoff value for SAL-β for severe pancreatitis was 178.8 pg/mL on the 1st day and 207.5 pg/mL on the 3rd day.

CONCLUSION

SAL-β can be used to detect and monitor severe pancreatitis. Further extensive clinical studies with larger case series are needed.

The relationship of salusins with Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, and acute ischemic stroke: A preliminary study

Neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis play important roles in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Parkinson's Disease (PD), and Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS). Salusin-α and salusin-β peptides, which were shown to be present in many tissues, including the central nervous system, were also shown to be associated with apoptosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress. In the present study, the relationship between Salusin-α and salusin-β peptides and AD, PD, and AIS were investigated. A total of 179 people were included in the present study, including 46 AD, 44 PD, 42 AIS, and 47 controls. Plasma Salusin-α and salusin-β levels were measured with the ELISA Method. The plasma salusin-β levels of AD, PD, and AIS patients were lower than the control group at significant levels (p < 0.05). It was also found that there were correlations between salusin-α and salusin-β levels and age, triglyceride, LDL-c, total cholesterol, and hemoglobin levels. In this study, we found that salusin- β, an endogenous neuropeptide, was associated with AD, PD and AIS. The low level of salusin-β in these diseases in which neuronal damage occurs may be related to the neuroprotective properties of this endogenous peptide. Further studies are needed to fully understand the relationship between salusin-β and the pathophysiology of these diseases.

Serum salusin-α and -β levels in patients with parkinson's disease

BACKGROUND

The etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) is not well known and there is increasing evidence that oxidative stress also plays an important role in its pathogenesis. Salusins alpha (salusin-α) and beta (salusin-β) affect the central nervous system, vasculature, and kidneys to increase the inflammatory response in endothelial cells, stimulate oxidative stress, and increase monocyte-endothelial adhesion. Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress play roles in the etiopathogenesis of PD.

PURPOSE

To investigate whether salusin-α and -β are related to PD and whether they are correlated with the development of atherosclerosis, body mass index, disease duration, and the Parkinson's Hoehn and Yahr stage.

RESULTS

The low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol, and salusin-β levels were significantly lower and age was significantly higher in Parkinson patients compared to healthy controls (ρ < 0.005). We found a negative linear correlation between salusin-β and the Hoehn and Yahr stage (ρ < 0.001, r = -0.515) in the patients.

CONCLUSIONS

There was a relationship between salusin-β and PD and a correlation between the salusin-β levels and Parkinson's stage. A possible underlying disease mechanism is an increase in oxidative stress and decrease in neuroprotective effects due to low salusin-β levels. Therefore, the effects of salusin-β in treating Parkinson disease should be evaluated. Further studies are needed to understand the effects of salusin-β treatment on preventing or slowing the course of PD.

Intracerebroventricular salusin-β infusion to rats increases hypothalamus-pituitary-testicular axis hormones

Salusin-β (Sal-β), which originates from preprosalusin, is a multifunctional hormone with a peptide structure. Sal-β exists in the hypothalamus and can stimulate the pituitary gland. The present study was conducted to determine the effects of Sal-β on hormones that play roles in the male reproductive system. Forty male Wistar Albino rats were used in the study. No infusions were performed on the control group, and infusions were applied to the infusion groups (artificial cerebrospinal fluid to the sham group, 2 and 20 nM Sal-β to the experimental group) through intracerebroventricular infusion for 7 days at 10 μl/hour rate. The animals were decapitated after 7 days of infusion; and the hypothalamus, testicles, and blood tissue samples were collected. The gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) mRNA levels were determined from the hypothalamus tissues by using the Real Time-PCR Method, and the serum luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone levels were determined using the ELISA method. Also, Hematoxylin-Eosin Staining Method was used for histopathological evaluations in the testicle tissues. As a result, Sal-β infusion increased GnRH mRNA levels in hypothalamus tissues (p < 0.05) besides, serum LH, FSH, and testosterone levels of the rats were higher at significant levels following Sal-β infusion compared to the control and sham group (p < 0.05). In the histological examination of the testicle tissues, Sal-β application was found to decrease the seminiferous tubule diameter and germinal epithelial thickness (p < 0.05). This evidence is the first, indicating that Sal-β, which is administered to male rats with central infusion, stimulates hypothalamus and pituitary tissues, and causes increased secretion of male reproductive hormones.

Effects of Combined Treatment with Acupuncture and Chunggan Formula in a Mouse Model of Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Patients with Parkinson's disease can be treated with a combination of acupuncture and herbal medicine, but studies on the synergistic effects of the combined treatment have not yet been conducted. Thus, we subjected an MPTP-induced Parkinson's disease mouse model to the combined treatment. We used acupoint GB34 for acupuncture and modified Chunggantang (KD5040) as the herbal medicine, as they have been reported to be effective in Parkinson's disease. We investigated the suboptimal dose of KD5040 and then used this dose in the combined treatment. The results showed that the combined treatment had a synergistic effect on improvements in abnormal motor function and neurodegeneration compared with the use of acupuncture or herbal medicine alone. The combined treatment also had a neuroprotective effect via the PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK signaling pathways. These findings suggest that the combined treatment with acupuncture and KD5040 can help improve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Gami-Chunggan Formula Prevents Motor Dysfunction in MPTP/p-Induced and A53T α-Synuclein Overexpressed Parkinson's Disease Mouse Model Though DJ-1 and BDNF Expression

The Gami–Chunggan formula (GCF) is a modification of the Chunggan (CG) decoction, which has been used to treat movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) in Traditional East Asian Medicine. To evaluate the neuroprotective effects of GCF in chronic PD animal models, we used either a 5-week treatment of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine with probenecid (MPTP/p) or the α-synuclein A53T overexpressed PD mouse model. C57BL/6 mice were treated with MPTP, in combination with probenecid, for 5 weeks. GCF was administered simultaneously with MPTP injection for 38 days. The A53T α-synuclein overexpressed mice were also fed with GCF for 60 days. Using behavioral readouts and western blot analyses, it was observed that GCF prevents motor dysfunction in the MPTP/p-induced and A53T α-synuclein overexpressed mice. Moreover, GCF inhibited the reduction of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) and fibers in the striatum (ST) against MPTP/p challenge. The expression of DJ-1 was increased but that of α-synuclein was decreased in the SN of PD-like brains by GCF administration. In vitro experiments also showed that GCF inhibited 6-OHDA-induced neurotoxicity in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell lines and that it did so to a greater degree than CG. Furthermore, GCF induced BDNF expression through phosphorylation of Akt, ERK, CREB, and AMPK in the SN of PD-like brains. Therefore, use of the herbal medicine GCF offers a potential remedy for neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease.