Abstract
The exact etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) remains largely unknown, but more and more research suggests the involvement of the gut microbiota. Interestingly, idiopathic PD patients were shown to have at least a 10 times higher prevalence of Helicobacter suis (H. suis) DNA in gastric biopsies compared to control patients. H. suis is a zoonotic Helicobacter species that naturally colonizes the stomach of pigs and non-human primates but can be transmitted to humans. Here, we investigated the influence of a gastric H. suis infection on PD disease progression through a 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) mouse model. Therefore, mice with either a short- or long-term H. suis infection were stereotactically injected with 6-OHDA in the left striatum and sampled one week later. Remarkably, a reduced loss of dopaminergic neurons was seen in the H. suis/6-OHDA groups compared to the control/6-OHDA groups. Correspondingly, motor function of the H. suis-infected 6-OHDA mice was superior to that in the non-infected 6-OHDA mice. Interestingly, we also observed higher expression levels of antioxidant genes in brain tissue from H. suis-infected 6-OHDA mice, as a potential explanation for the reduced 6-OHDA-induced cell loss. Our data support an unexpected neuroprotective effect of gastric H. suis on PD pathology, mediated through changes in oxidative stress.