A High-Throughput Chemical Screen in DJ-1β Mutant Flies Identifies Zaprinast as a Potential Parkinson's Disease Treatment.

ABSTRACT: Dopamine replacement represents the standard therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD), a common, chronic, and incurable neurological disorder; however, this approach only treats the symptoms of this devastating disease. In the search for novel disease-modifying therapies that target other relevant molecular and cellular mechanisms, Drosophila has emerged as a valuable tool to study neurodegenerative diseases due to the presence of a complex central nervous system, the blood-brain barrier, and a similar neurotransmitter profile to humans. Human PD-related genes also display conservation in flies; DJ-1β is the fly ortholog of DJ-1, a gene for which mutations prompt early-onset recessive PD. Interestingly, flies mutant for DJ-1β exhibit PD-related phenotypes, including motor defects, high oxidati

SUBMITTER: Sanz FJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8804136 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature