Neuroprotective and Neurotoxic Effects of Endocannabinoid-like compounds, N-Arachidonoyl Dopamine and N-Docosahexaenoyl Dopamine in Differentiated Cultures of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Derived from Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

The prominent protective effects in diverse neuron injury paradigms exerted by cannabinoids and in particular their endogenously produced species render the endocannabinoid system a promising molecular target in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. However, the effects of individual endocannabinoids in human cells remain poorly investigated. Neural derivatives of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) offer unique opportunities for studying the neuroprotective compounds and development of patient-specific treatment. For the first time the cytotoxic and neuroprotective effects endocannabinoids N-arachidonoyl dopamine (N-ADA) and N-docosahexaenoyl dopamine (N-DDA) were assessed in human neural progenitors and dopamine neurons derived from iPSCs of healthy donors and patients with Parkinson’s disease. While the short-term treatment with the investigated compounds in 0.1-10 µM concentration range exerted no toxicity in these cell types, the long-term exposure to 0.1-5 µM N-ADA or N-DDA reduced the survival of human neural progenitors. At the same time, both N-ADA and N-DDA protected neural progenitors and terminally differentiated neurons both from healthy donors and patients with Parkinson’s disease against oxidative stress induced by hydrogen peroxide. The observed dramatic difference in the mode of action of N-acyl dopamines points on the possible existence of novel pathogenic mechanism of neurodegeneration induced by prolonged uncompensated production of these substances within neuronal tissue and should also be considered as a precaution in the future development of N-acyl dopamine-based therapeutic drugs.