Neuroprotective effects of an engineered commensal bacterium in the MPTP Parkinson disease mouse model via producing GLP-1.

While glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) was reported to have a positive impact on Parkinson disease, its extremely short half-life greatly hindered its clinical use. In the present study, the mouse strain MG1363-pMG36e-GLP-1 was engineered to continuously express GLP-1 to treat Parkinson disease in a 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-treated Parkinson disease model. In our study, oral supplementation with MG1363-pMG36e-GLP-1 significantly (p < 0.05) reduced MPTP-induced locomotor impairments, increased tyrosine hydroxylase (T-OH)-positive neurons, suppressed microglia and astrocyte activation and downregulated expression of several inflammation-related molecules. In addition, MG1363-pMG36e-GLP-1 significantly (p < 0.01) reduced intestinal pathogen Enterobacteriaceae and markedly enhanced the number of probiotic Lactobacillus and Akkermansia. These data suggest that MG1363-pMG36e-GLP-1 could be a novel therapeutic means for Parkinson disease. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.