Schwann cells differentiated from skin-derived precursors provide neuroprotection via autophagy inhibition in a cellular model of Parkinson's disease

  • Neural Regen Res. 2022 Jun;17(6):1357-1363. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.327353.
Jia-Nan Yan  1 ,  Hai-Ying Zhang  1 ,  Jun-Rui Li  2 ,  Ying Chen  3 ,  Yong-Cheng Jiang  1 ,  Jia-Bing Shen  1 ,  Kai-Fu Ke  4 ,  Xiao-Su Gu  4
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University; Research Center of Clinical Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China.
  • 2. Department of Clinical Medicine, The First Clinical Medical College of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China.
  • 3. Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong; Department of Neurology and Suzhou Clinical Research Center of Neurological Disease, The Second Afflicted Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China.
  • 4. Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China.
PMID: 34782582 DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.327353
Abstract

Autophagy has been shown to play an important role in Parkinson's disease. We hypothesized that skin-derived precursor cells exhibit neuroprotective effects in Parkinson's disease through affecting Autophagy. In this study, 6-hydroxydopamine-damaged SH-SY5Y cells were pretreated with a culture medium containing skin-derived precursors differentiated into Schwann cells (SKP-SCs). The results showed that the SKP-SC culture medium remarkably enhanced the activity of SH-SY5Y cells damaged by 6-hydroxydopamine, reduced excessive Autophagy, increased Tyrosine Hydroxylase expression, reduced α-synuclein expression, reduced the autophagosome number, and activated the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. Autophagy activator rapamycin inhibited the effects of SKP-SCs, and Autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine had the opposite effect. These findings confirm that SKP-SCs modulate the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway to inhibit Autophagy, thereby exhibiting a neuroprotective effect in a cellular model of Parkinson's disease. This study was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Laboratory Animal Center of Nantong University (approval No. S20181009-205) on October 9, 2018.

Keywords
PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway; Parkinson's disease; alpha-synuclein; autophagosomes; autophagy; neural regeneration; neuroprotection; skin-derived precursor Schwann cells.
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