(图片摘自www.sciencealert.com)

　　2016年8月25日 讯 /生物谷BIOON/ --科学家们最近发现大鼠的视网膜变化能够作为帕金森症的发病前预测指标。如果该方法同样适用于人体，那么将会提供一类新型的廉价且无创的帕金森早期诊断方法。

　　该技术仅仅需要一台眼科医师常用的仪器，这意味着它能够同样对帕金森症患者进行诊断与治疗效果的鉴定。

　　“这可能是帕金森症早期诊断与治疗领域最具革命性的突破”，该研究的首席作者，来自伦敦学院大学的Francesca Cordeiro说道。

　　“这些检测意味着我们可能能够早患者病情未恶化之前进行有效的诊断与针对性的治疗”。

　　帕金森症是世界上最严重的神经疾病之一，平均每500个人中就有一名帕金森症患者。目前，帕金森症的最终诊断只能通过神经学的方法，这一方法十分复杂，需要许多不同的单项检测得以实现。

　　而帕金森症由于发病早期的症状十分微小，因此常常容易被忽视。最终，许多患者直到病情恶化到十分严重的程度才知晓，而此时大脑中至少70的多巴胺分泌细胞都受到了损坏。

　　因此，帕金森症的早期诊断被认为是能够改变这一现状的最有效的方法.

　　该新型的技术是通过从眼球的背部打光，并观察视网膜多少(RGC)细胞开始死亡。同时，也能够观察到该区域的肿胀情况。

　　在该研究中，研究者们对帕金森症早期的大鼠进行RGC细胞凋亡的检测并观察该区域的肿胀程度。结果显示，在帕金森症病发之前60天前就能够通过该方法得到明显的检测结果。

　　进一步，作者对早期检测的大鼠进行针对性的治疗，并观察早期的治疗是否有一定的优势。他们给予大鼠一类叫做rosiglitazone的治疗糖尿病的药物，结果显示，该药物的之咯啊哦能够有效缓解神经细胞的损伤。

　　如上所述，这些结果都需要在人体水平进行验证，之后才可能应用于临床。不过，研究者们认为他们的结果应该十分可信，值得进行临床试验。

　　相关结果发表在《Acta Neuropathologica Communications》杂志上。(生物谷Bioon.com)

　　PMC:

　　PMID:

　　The retina as an early biomarker of neurodegeneration in a rotenone-induced model of Parkinson’s disease: evidence for a neuroprotective effect of rosiglitazone in the eye and brain

　　Eduardo Maria Normando, Benjamin Michael Davis, Lies De Groef, Shereen Nizari, Lisa A. Turner, Nivedita Ravindran, Milena Pahlitzsch, Jonathan Brenton, Giulia Malaguarnera, Li Guo, Satyanarayana Somavarapu and Maria Francesca CordeiroEmail author

　　Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide, affecting 1 % of the population over 65 years of age. Dopaminergic cell death in the substantia nigra and accumulation of Lewy bodies are the defining neuropathological hallmarks of the disease. Neuronal death and dysfunction have been reported in other central nervous system regions, including the retina. Symptoms of PD typically manifest only when more than 70 % of dopaminergic cells are lost, and the definitive diagnosis of PD can only be made histologically at post-mortem, with few biomarkers available.

　　In this study, a rotenone-induced rodent model of PD was employed to investigate retinal manifestations in PD and their usefulness in assessing the efficacy of a novel therapeutic intervention with a liposomal formulation of the PPAR-γ (Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma) agonist rosiglitazone.

　　Retinal assessment was performed using longitudinal in vivo imaging with DARC (detection of apoptosing retinal cells) and OCT (optical coherence tomography) technologies and revealed increased RGCs (Retinal Ganglion Cells) apoptosis and a transient swelling of the retinal layers at day 20 of the rotenone insult. Follow-up of this model demonstrated characteristic histological neurodegenerative changes in the substantia nigra and striatum by day 60, suggesting that retinal changes precede the “traditional” pathological manifestations of PD. The therapeutic effect of systemic administration of different formulations of rosiglitazone was then evaluated, both in the retina and the brain. Of all treatment regimen tested, sustained release administration of liposome-encapsulated rosiglitazone proved to be the most potent therapeutic strategy, as evidenced by its significant neuroprotective effect on retinal neurons at day 20, and on nigrostriatal neurons at day 60, provided convincing evidence for its potential as a treatment for PD.