Anti-Inflammatory and Neuroprotective Effects of Morin in an MPTP-Induced Parkinson’s Disease Model

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 23; no. 18; p. 10578
• Main Authors: Hong, Dong Geun, Lee, Seulah, Kim, Jaehoon, Yang, Seonguk, Lee, Myunggyo, Ahn, Jinsook, Lee, Haeseung, Chang, Seung-Cheol, Ha, Nam-Chul, Lee, Jaewon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 12.09.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: anti-inflammation; astrocyte; Astrocytes; Binding sites; Biochemical analysis; Cytokines; Diet; Dopamine; Dopamine receptors; Extracellular signal-regulated kinase; Flavonols; Functional foods & nutraceuticals; Inflammation; Metabolism; Metabolites; Microglia; morin; MPTP; Neostriatum; Neurons; Neuroprotection; Oxidative stress; Parkinson's disease; Substantia nigra
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms231810578

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) are known to be related to oxidative stress and neuroinflammation, and thus, modulating neuroinflammation offers a possible means of treating PD-associated pathologies. Morin (2′,3,4′,5,7-pentahydroxy flavone) is a flavonol with anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects found in wines, herbs, and fruits. The present study was undertaken to determine whether a morin-containing diet has protective effects in an MPTP-induced mouse model of PD. Mice were fed a control or morin diet for 34 days, and then MPTP (30 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered daily for 5 days to induce a PD-like pathology. We found that dietary morin prevented MPTP-induced motor dysfunction and ameliorated dopaminergic neuronal damage in striatum (STR) and substantia nigra (SN) in our mouse model. Furthermore, MPTP-induced neuroinflammation was significantly reduced in mice fed morin. In vitro studies showed that morin effectively suppressed glial activations in primary microglia and astrocytes, and biochemical analysis and a docking simulation indicated that the anti-inflammatory effects of morin were mediated by blocking the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-p65 pathway. These findings suggest that morin effectively inhibits glial activations and has potential use as a functional food ingredient with therapeutic potential for the treatment of PD and other neurodegenerative diseases associated with neuroinflammation.