Scorpion Venom Heat-Resistant Peptide Protects Transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans from β- Amyloid Toxicity

• Main Authors: Xiao-Gang Zhang (Author), Xi Wang (Author), Ting-Ting Zhou (Author), Xue-Fei Wu (Author), Yan Peng (Author), Wan-Qin Zhang (Author), Shao Li (Author), Jie Zhao (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A., 2016-07-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 1663-9812; 10.3389/fphar.2016.00227
• Keywords: Amyloid beta-Peptides; Behavior; Alzheimer's disease; C. elegans; Scorpion Venom Heat-Resistant Peptide; Therapeutics. Pharmacology; RM1-950
• Source: Frontiers in Pharmacology, Vol 7 (2016)

Scorpion venom heat-resistant peptide (SVHRP) is a component purified from Buthus martensii Karsch scorpion venom. Our previous studies found SVHRP could enhance neurogenesis and inhibit microglia-mediated neuroinflammation in vivo. Here, we use the transgenic CL4176, CL2006 and CL2355 strains of Caenorhabditis elegans which express the human Aβ1-42 to investigate the effects and the possible mechanisms of SVHRP mediated protection against Aβ toxicity in vivo. The results showed that SVHRP-fed worms displayed remarkably decreased paralysis, less abundant toxic Aβ oligomers, reduced Aβ plaque deposition with respect to untreated animals. SVHRP also suppressed neuronal Aβ expression-induced defects in chemotaxis behavior and attenuated levels of ROS in the transgenic C. elegans. Taken together, these results suggest SVHRP could protect against Aβ-induced toxicity in C. elegans. Further studies need to be conducted in murine models and humans to analyze the effectiveness of the peptide.