Effects of thioredoxin-1 on oligodendrocyte lineage cells altered by the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases characterized by a decrease in dopaminergic (DAergic) neurons and alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) accumulation in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). Recently, it has been reported that oligodendrocytes (OLs) are altered in PD as well. Thioredoxin-1 (Trx-1) is a redox protein and protects DAergic neurons from 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced neurotoxicity.

However, whether Trx-1 affects OLs’ alteration in PD is unknown. We investigated the effects of Trx-1 on OLs after MPTP treatment. Our results showed that myelin thickness and the number of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), pre-myelinating oligodendrocytes (pre-OLs), and oligodendrocytes (OLs) were increased in the SNpc after MPTP treatment; these changes were regulated by Trx-1.

Importantly, α-Syn was increased by MPTP in OLs besides DAergic neurons, which was also regulated by Trx-1. Our results suggest that oligodendrocyte lineage cells are increased in MPTP-induced PD mice; moreover, these alterations are affected by Trx-1. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82371271, U2002220), the innovation team of stress and defense of Yunnan Province (202305AS350011).

Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, Medical School, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China Fang Yan, Qimeng Xia, Xiaowei Sun, Jiaoyang Duan, Rou Gu, Yue Pan, Liping Bai, Ye Li, Xianwen Zhang & Jie Bai The authors declare no competing interests. Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material.

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To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Yan, F., Xia, Q., Sun, X. et al. Effects of thioredoxin-1 on oligodendrocyte lineage cells altered by the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine. npj Parkinsons Dis. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-026-01581-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-026-01581-8