Levodopa exerts neuroprotective effects by suppressing microglial proinflammatory activation in a rat hemi-Parkinson's disease model.

ABSTRACT: Levodopa is a central medicine used for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) as a dopamine (DA) precursor that increases DA levels in the striatum. Microglia, resident macrophages in the brain, become activated in response to the progressive degeneration of nigral dopaminergic neurons in PD pathology, while releasing proinflammatory mediators that are harmful to dopaminergic neurons. DA has been shown to prevent proinflammatory activation of microglia. This study showed that DA decreases lipopolysaccharide-induced proinflammatory reactions and increases tissue repairing factors of microglia in cultured rat microglia. Levodopa was administered to 6-hydroxydopmaine (6-OHDA)-induced PD model rats for 7 days, and motor deficits were evaluated after a two-week withdrawal period. The levodo

SUBMITTER: Miyaue N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12753262 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature