Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Abstract

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that the postmenopausal women harbor a higher level of body iron than premenopausal women. Nigral iron accumulation is involved in the etiology of Parkinsonâ��s disease. Recent studies demonstrated that the women are on average 2.1 years older than the men at time of diagnosis. Moreover, medical conditions leading to estrogen depletion increase the risk of PD. The importance of estrogens and iron to physiology and disease has been known for decades, but we often overlook that these two factors interact. In this study, we investigated the effect of estrogen on the iron transport proteins as well as its mechanisms in midbrain. The results were as follows: Iron exporter ferroportin1 (FPN1) and iron importer divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) were up-regulated after estrogen was treated in primary cultured astrocytes, while hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1�±) was up-regulated, but hypoxia inducible factor 2 alpha (HIF-2�±) remained unchanged. In neurons, DMT1 was decreased but FPN1 was up-regulated after estrogen was treated. IRP1 was down-regulated while HIF-1�± and HIF-2�± remained unchanged after estrogen was treated in primary cultured neurons. The results suggest that the regulations for iron metabolisms of estrogen on astroctyes and neurons are different. Estrogen can increase FPN1 and DMT1 expressions by elevating HIF-1�± in astrocytes. However, the decreased expression of IRP1 may account for the decreased DMT1 and increased FPN1expressions in neurons.

Biography

Email: junwangqdu@163.com