Astrocytes, Microglia, and Parkinson's Disease

Astrocytes and microglia support well-being and well-function of the brain through diverse functions in both intact and injured brain. For example, astrocytes maintain homeostasis of microenvironment of the brain through up-taking ions and neurotransmitters, and provide growth factors and metabolites for neurons, etc. Microglia keep surveying surroundings, and remove abnormal synapses or respond to injury by isolating injury sites and expressing inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, their loss and/or functional alteration may be directly linked to brain diseases. Since Parkinson's disease (PD)-related genes are expressed in astrocytes and microglia, mutations of these genes may alter the functions of these cells, thereby contributing to disease onset and progression. Here, we review the roles of astrocytes and microglia in intact and injured brain, and discuss how PD genes regulate their functions.

Effects of the NADPH oxidase p22phox C242T polymorphism on endurance exercise performance and oxidative DNA damage in response to aerobic exercise training.

We examined the effects of the NADPH oxidase p22phox C242T polymorphism on endurance exercise performance and oxidative DNA damage in response to acute and chronic exercises. One hundred three subjects were recruited, among which 26 healthy subjects (CC: 12, TC: 12, and TT: 2) were studied during rest, exercise at 85% VO(2)max, and recovery before and after 8 weeks of tread-mill running. Lymphocyte DNA damage increased significantly in response to exercise (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in plasma MDA, SOD concentrations and lymphocyte DNA damage between CC genotype and T allele group, but significant endurance training differences were observed. Endurance training increased exercise time to exhaustion in both the CC genotype and T allele groups (p < 0.05) but no significant difference was found between groups. The results of the current study with young, healthy, Korean men are interpreted to mean that 1) the majority had the CC genotype of the NADPH oxidase p22phox C242T polymorphism (82.5%: CC, 15.5%: TC, 1.9%: TT), 2) acute exercise increased lymphocyte DNA damage, 3) endurance training significantly increased exercise time to exhaustion, and alleviated lymphocyte DNA damage, and 4) The NADPH oxidase p22phox C242T polymorphism, however, did not alter lymphocyte DNA damage or exercise performance at rest, immediately after exercise, or during recovery.

Fluid replacement following dehydration reduces oxidative stress during recovery.

To investigate the effects of hydration status on oxidative DNA damage and exercise performance, 10 subjects ran on a treadmill until exhaustion at 80% VO(2max) during four different trials [control (C), 3% dehydration (D), 3% dehydration+water (W) or 3% dehydration+sports drink (S)]. Dehydration significantly decreased exercise time to exhaustion (D