Neuroprotective impacts of taurine nanoparticles against rotenone induced Parkinson’s disease in mice

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affects motor and cognitive functions in patients. The main pathology of this illness is the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra which leads to locomotor impairment such as tremors, bradykinesia, and muscular rigidity. In late stages of PD, non-motor symptoms like cognitive deficits develop, affecting the life quality. Recent studies indicated that these non-motor symptoms are attributed to neuronal loss in the hippocampus and impaired neurotransmission, due to oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. This study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of Taurine (TRN) and taurine nanoparticles (TRN-NPs) and investigate their role in improving hippocampal neuronal survival and their synergistic effects with Sinemet tablets as a dopamine replacement, on rotenone-induced PD experimental mice model. The experiment involved 70 mice categorized into G1:control, G2:Sinemet (reference drug), G3:TRN-control, G4:TRN-NPs-control, G5:Rotenone (PD model), G6: Rotenone + Sinemet, G7:Rotenone + TRN, G8:Rotenone + TRN-NPs, G9:Rotenone + Sinemet + TRN and G10:Rotenone + Sinemet + TRN-NPs. At the experiment end, Behavioral parameter was defined using inverted screen test and various assessments. Neurotransmitters, oxidative stress biomarkers, pro-inflammatory cytokines, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), micro-RNA 214, and micro-RNA 216a were evaluated. Treatment with TRN or TRN-NPs alone or with Sinemet alleviate oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and hippocampal neurodegeneration, enhance neurotransmission, neuronal survival and protection against cellular death. These results were confirmed by histological and immunohistochemical studies. The results suggest that TRN-NPs represent an innovative adjunct supplement to traditional dopaminergic therapies, improve neuroprotection, increased bioavailability, addressing current limitations in drug delivery and therapeutic efficacy thus opening up promising therapeutic approaches for PD management.