ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Dementia and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1667943
This article is part of the Research TopicMedicinal Plants and Brain Health: From Extracts to FormulationsView all 5 articles
Iron chelation as a therapeutic target in vanadium neurotoxicity and Parkinson's disease: role of medicinal plants
Provisionally accepted
Francis Olaolorun1,2
Melanie-Jayne Howes3
Taiwo Elufioye1
Oluwatoyin Odeku1
James Olukayode Olopade1*
Paul Chazot2*- 1University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
- 2Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
- 3Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom
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Bioprospecting plant natural products has yielded significant success in the development of symptomatic treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including the two most common, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases (PD). Dysregulation of iron has been strongly implicated in the pathophysiology of these serious intractable diseases. A series of Nigerian endemic plants' methanolic extracts were explored using a Ferrozine binding iron chelation assay. This identified Spondias purpurea L. (SP) leaves as a potential therapeutic candidate and this was determined by evaluation of oxidative stress in 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-exposed monoamine cell culture and Drosophila models of PD and vanadium neurotoxicity. SP treatment protected CAD cells against 6-OHDA toxicity and improved survival in PINK-1 mutant flies, though it had little effect on motor deficits. Furthermore, SP treatment reduced the vanadium-induced reactive oxygen species, and notably, staggered SP treatment significantly extended lifespan in vanadium-treated flies. Overall, Spondias purpurea L. leaf methanolic extract exhibited iron-chelating, antioxidant, neuroprotective, and life-extending properties, relevant to Parkinsons disease and vanadium-induced toxicity.
Keywords: Spondias, iron homeostasis, PINK-1, Drosophila, Oxidative Stress, Parkinson's disease
Received: 17 Jul 2025; Accepted: 08 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Olaolorun, Howes, Elufioye, Odeku, Olopade and Chazot. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
James Olukayode Olopade, jkayodeolopade@yahoo.com
Paul Chazot, paul.chazot@durham.ac.uk
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