毒物兴奋效应与神经保护

Hormesis and neuroprotection

毒物兴奋效应(hormesis)指有毒物质或处理因素在低剂量或低水平时对生物体表现为有利作用,但在高剂量或高水平时表现出其相反作用的双相剂量效应,可视为细胞或机体在不利环境中的一种适应机制。最近,研究人员将hormesis理论应用到神经保护中,增强神经细胞自适应能力,这将为神经疾病预防治疗提供新思路和新方法。一些低剂量的有利刺激能够明显增强神经细胞对于更剧烈刺激的抵抗能力,这种现象被称为神经毒物兴奋作用(neurohormesis)。综述了hormesis的研究现状、低剂量化学物质、辐射与热量限制等通过引起神经细胞适应性反应而起神经保护作用及机制。

Hormesis refers to a dose-response relationship that is generally characterized as a biphasic dose response, and it induces an adaptive beneficial effect on a cell or organism at low doses but inhibits this effect at high doses. Recently, the hormesis concept attracts increasingly more attention in the field of the neural research, indicating that improving cellular adaptive ability provides a new idea and method for the prevention and treatment of neurological diseases. A class of useful stressors could markedly increase the neuronal resistance to more drastic stresses, which is defined as neurohormesis. This, paper reviews the progress in hormesis research, neuroprotective effects and mechanisms of low doses of chemicals, radiation and calories restriction through inducing neurohormesis.