Parkinson' s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that specifically affects dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Although several hypotheses have been proposed to account for the specificity of the neurodegenerative features of the disease, the exact cause of the disease remains to be elucidated. Significant advances in our understanding of the possible causes of the disease were provided by the serendipitous discovery that a neurotoxin, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6- tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), elicits a pattern of neurodegenerative features in humans and experimental animals identical to that seen in patients with Parkinson' s disease. A potential target to prevent neurodegeneration in Parkinson' s disease is the calcium-dependent protease calpain. Calpain levels are elevated in post-mortem substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson' s disease, MPP+ neurotoxicity in granule cell cultures is associated with calpain activation and blocked by calpain inhibitors, and calpain has been implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases. We have recently obtained a series of novel and potent calpain inhibitors and have demonstrated their potency in preventing NMDA-induced calpain activation in cultured hippocampal slices. The current proposal is aimed at testing the hypothesis that calpain activation plays a critical role in animal models of PD and that calpain inhibitors are neuroprotective in these models. We will first determine the potency and efficacy of calpain inhibitors to prevent MPTP toxicity in cultured slices from rat mesencephalon. We will then use structure activity relationship in conjunction with additional assays to identify the best inhibitors to be tested in in vivo models. Finally, we will test the hypothesis that calpain is activated and that calpain inhibitors are neuroprotective against MPTP-mediated neurotoxicity and behavioral impairments in vivo in C57BI/6 mice, and against rotenone-mediated neurotoxicity in rats. Conversion of the pro-apoptotic factor Bid to its active, truncated form tBid will be tested as part of the mechanisms by which calpain activation induces cell death. These studies will test the hypothesis that calpain inhibitors might prevent neurodegeneration not only in Parkinson' s disease but also in a variety of conditions resulting from exposure to environmental toxins. Finally, because calpain has also been implicated in the mechanisms underlying Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), our proposal could lead to significant advances in the treatment of this neurodegenerative disease as well. ? ?
