Parkinson disease is characterized by the death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. We explored the neuroprotective effect of Selegiline and Piribedil, the Monoamine Oxidase Type B (MAO-B) and dopamine agonist to Parkinson disease (PD). After embryonic Wistar rat were induced by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from PD patients, Selegiline and Piribedil were administered to Wistar rat. Immunohistochemical staining, RT-PCR and western blot were adopted to analyze the changes of morphology, lactate dehydrogenase activity, tyrosine hydroxylase positive neurons rate, and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression in Wistar rat. The two drugs do not affect the normal growth of dopamine neurons. Selegiline and Piribedil both decreased the injury caused by CSF of PD patients in Wistar rat. We observed decreased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, increased TH (+)/total cells ratio and increased the TH expression in treated Wistar rat with dose-dependent effects. The morphological changes of cells are consistent with above observation. Selegiline and Piribedil have neuroprotective effects to induced PD Wistar rat with dose-dependent effect. Selegiline demonstrated stronger neuroprotective effect than Piribedil, and the two drugs have potential treatment effect in clinical for PD patients.
Keywords: Neuroprotection; parkinson’s disease; piribedil; selegiline.