Abstract / Summary
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a widespread neurodegenerative condition, the underlying mechanisms of which remain poorly understood, with no disease-modifying therapy currently available. Fejerin, a peptide isolated from frog skin mucus, exhibits potent antioxidant activity. In this study, we investigate whether fejerin exerts protective effects in both in vivo and in vitro models of PD and the underlying mechanisms. Our findings show that administering fejerin reduces the death of dopamine-producing nerve cells and alleviates movement-related impairments in animal models of PD. On a cellular level, fejerin markedly reduces the cell death rate in in vitro PD cell models and increases tyrosine hydroxylase production. Further mechanistic studies reveal that fejerin influences the PINK1–Parkin signaling pathway, promotes autophagy, significantly inhibits oxidative stress, and reduces apoptosis of dopaminergic neurons, thus exerting neuroprotective effects. These findings identify fejerin as a highly promising neuroprotective agent with the potential for development into a multi-target therapeutic strategy to address the complex pathology of PD.