Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether scorpion extract elicits a neuroprotective effect in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine(MPTP)-treated mice models, and the genes associated with the therapeutic effects using RNA sequencing(seq)analysis.METHODS: This study investigated the changes in interaction between messenger ribonucleic acid(m RNA) expression and deoxyribonucleic acid(DNA) methylation related to the protective effects of scorpion extracts, in the substantia nigra(SN)region of a MPTP-induced Parkinson's disease(PD)model.RESULTS: In this model, scorpion extracts attenuated the motor impairment as demonstrated by the rotarod and open field tests. Scorpion extracts consistently attenuated the decrease of tyrosine hydroxylase(TH) positive neural cells in the SN and striatum of mice. We profiled genomewide DNA methylation using Methyl-Seq and measured the transcriptome using RNA-Seq in murine SN in the following groups: vehicle-treated MPTP-induced PD mice and scorpion extracttreated MPTP-induced PD mice. In total, 13 479 differentially expressed genes were identified in association with the anti-PD effect of the scorpion extract, mainly in the promoter and coding regions.Among them, 47 were negatively correlated downregulated genes. Nineteen genes out of 47 downregulated genes were negatively correlated with the expression of the other 28 genes. Among these genes, SGSM1 was related to dopaminergic neurons including dopamine transporters, TH, dihydroxyphenylalanine decarboxylase, and dopamine D2 receptor.CONCLUSION: This study provides insights into the anti-parkinsonian effects of scorpion extract and reveals the epigenetic targets in its therapeutic mechanism.

Key words: scorpions, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine, Parkinson disease, DNA methylation