Participation of prostate apoptosis response-4 in degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in models of Parkinson's disease.

Dysfunction and death of midbrain dopaminergic neurons underlies the clinical features of Parkinson's disease (PD). Increasing evidence suggests roles for oxidative stress and a form of cell death called apoptosis in the pathogenesis of PD. We recently identified a 38-kd protein called prostate apoptosis response-4 (Par-4), which is rapidly induced in cultured neurons after exposure to apoptotic insults, and appears to play a necessary role in the cell death process. We now report that Par-4 levels increase dramatically in midbrain dopaminergic neurons of monkeys and mice exposed to 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). The increase in Par-4 levels occurs in both neuronal cell bodies in the substantia nigra and their axon terminals in the striatum, and precedes loss of tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity and cell death. In the monkey model, Par-4 levels were also increased in several brain regions (red nucleus, lateral geniculate nucleus, and cerebral cortex) in which functional alterations have previously been documented in PD patients and MPTP-treated monkeys. Exposure of cultured human dopaminergic neural cells to the complex I inhibitor rotenone, or to Fe2+, resulted in Par-4 induction, mitochondrial dysfunction, and subsequent apoptosis. Blockade of Par-4 induction by antisense treatment prevented rotenone- and Fe2+-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis demonstrating a critical role for Par-4 in the cell death process. The data suggest that Par-4 may be involved in the neurodegenerative process in PD.