Abstract

Original abstract online at
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10863-026-10128-8

 

Long-term excessive fluoride intake accumulates in brain tissue, causing neuronal degeneration and nervous system dysfunction. This mechanism is closely related to elevated oxidative stress. a-Synuclein (a-Syn) is expressed in neuronal presynaptic terminals; under environmental toxin exposure or oxidative stress, its expression changes and it misfolds into oligomers and aggregates that are cytotoxic and induce oxidative cellular damage. Meanwhile, the nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 (Nrf2)–NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1)/heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) pathway is an important cellular system for regulating oxidative damage, and its core kinase is mainly expressed in brain astrocytes.The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of fluoride exposure on oxidative stress levels in astrocytes and the expression of a-Syn within the Nrf2-NQO1/HO-1 pathway. Primary astrocytes were treated with extracellular a-synuclein pre-formed fibrils (aSP) in conjunction with fluoride exposure. The results demonstrated that fluoride exposure induced reactive activation of primary astrocytes, increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), decreased activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), and up-regulated the protein expression within the Nrf2-NQO1/HO-1 pathway. aSP caused oxidative stress in primary astrocytes and exacerbated oxidative damage induced by fluoride exposure. These findings are significant for enhancing the understanding of the mechanisms underlying brain injury associated with chronic fluorosis.

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Data will be made available on request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China?No.81960572?and National Natural Science Foundation of China-Guizhou Karst Center Project Sub-topic?No.U1812403).

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Authors and Affiliations

Contributions

Xiao Zhou: Writing-review & editing, Writing-original draft, Validation, Supervision, Software, Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Kaiju Mo: Writing-review & editing, Writing-original draft, Software, Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation. Wen Wan: Methodology, Investigation, Conceptualization. Ling Ye: Writing – original draft, Validation, Methodology, Formal analysis. Minghai Liu: Software, Resources. Zhizhong Guan: Methodology, Data curation. Yuchuan Ding: Resources. Yanjie Liu: Writing-review & editing,Funding acquisition,Supervision, Data curation,Conceptualization. Shu Xu: Writing-original draft, Investigation, Data curation, Conceptualization.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yanjie Liu or Shu Xu.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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