Fig. 4

The potential neuroprotective effects of TUDCA are shown in context with deposition of protein aggregates and neuroinflammation. TUDCA regulates the expression of genes involved in cell cycle regulation and apoptotic pathways, thus promoting neuronal survival, as depicted in Fig. 2. TUDCA improves protein folding capacity through its chaperoning activity, in turn reducing protein aggregation and deposition (a). By preventing protein aggregation, TUDCA also reduces ROS production, ultimately leading to protection against mitochondrial dysfunction (b), and ameliorates ER stress (c). Finally, TUDCA inhibits the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, in turn exerting an anti-neuroinflammatory effect (d)