Evaluating the Potential of Portulaca oleracea L. for Parkinson’s Disease Treatment Using a Drosophila Model with dUCH-Knockdown

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD), which is characterized by the decreased motor function and the loss of dopaminergic neurons, is a common neurodegenerative disorder in elders. There have been numerous in vitro and in vivo models developed to study mechanisms of PD and screen potential drug. Recently, dUCH-knockdown Drosophila model has been established and showed potential for screening antioxidants for PD treatment. The dUCH-knockdown Drosophila model of PD mimics most of main PD pathologies such as dopaminergic neurons degeneration, locomotor dysfunction, and shortage of dopamine in the brain. Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) is a nutritious vegetable containing a variety of antioxidants, levodopa, and dopamine, a neurotransmitter closely related to PD. Purslane has been reported to exert neuroprotective effects against several neurotoxins including rotenone and 6-OHDA in PD models. However, the recent data have not provided sufficient evidence for using purslane to treat PD or decelerate disease progression. Therefore, in this study, we utilized dUCH-knockdown fly to evaluate the capacity of purslane extracts for PD treatment. The results showed that purslane extracts improved locomotor ability in the larval stage and decelerated disease progression in the adult stage. Additionally, purslane extracts also reduced dopaminergic neuron degeneration. Taken together, our data strongly demonstrated that purslane extracts effectively rescued PD-like phenotypes in the fly model. This result contributed a foundation for further study on the application of purslane in PD treatment.

A review on bioactive phytochemicals and ethnopharmacological potential of purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.)

“…Various metabolic studies have deciphered its phytochemical composition [ 99 , 100 , 102 , 106 ]. Because of its importance in various cultures as an important ethnomedicinal plant, scientists have taken strides to prove its pharmacological potential against various diseases such as diabetes, cancers, neural diseases, asthma, obesity and bacterial and viral diseases using various models including in vivo studies and cell lines [ 24 , 73 , 100 , 180 ]. Main ethnopharmacological properties of purslane are depicted in Figure 4 .…”

“…Betacyanins from purslane were found to be effective against the D-galactose induced neurotoxicity in mice [29]. Truong et al [180] have found that purslane extract acts as a neuroprotectant against Parkinson's disease because of the presence of levodopa and dopamine. Polysaccharides extracted from Purslane played protective roles against lead induced memory impairment in rats [229].…”

Evaluate the efficiency of resveratrol for treating Parkinson disease on Drosophila melanogaster model

“…Kết hợp với các ưu điểm khác của mô hình như: chi phí thấp, vòng đời ngắn, tốc độ nhân dòng nhanh giúp thu ngắn thời gian và cho phép nghiên cứu trên cỡ mẫu lớn, mô hình ruồi giấm knockdown dUCH phù hợp để sử dụng như một mô hình in vivo sơ cấp trong sàng lọc thuốc điều trị bệnh Parkinson. Tới thời điểm hiện tại, mô hình đã được sử dụng để đánh giá khả năng điều trị Parkinson bằng curcumin, vitamin C, cao chiết rau sam [16][17][18] . Từ những cơ sở trên, chúng tôi tiến hành đánh giá hiệu quả điều trị theo nồng độ của resveratrol đối với bệnh Parkinson trên mô hình ruồi giấm knockdown gene dUCH chuyên biệt tại tế bào thần kinh sinh dopamine.…”

UHPLC-Orbitrap-MS Tentative Identification of 51 Oleraceins (Cyclo-Dopa Amides) in Portulaca oleracea L. Cluster Analysis and MS2 Filtering by Mass Difference

“…A number of reports exist in the literature on the ethnomedicinal and pharmacological profiles of purslane [4][5][6][7]. Purslane extracts demonstrate various pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant [2,8,9], anti-inflammatory [10][11][12], neuroprotective [13][14][15], antimicrobial [16,17], antidiabetic [18][19][20], antiulcerogenic [21], and anticancer [19,22,23].…”