Protocatechuic acid mitigates cadmium-induced neurotoxicity in rats: Role of oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis
Moneim, Ebtesam M. Al Olayan , Abeer S. Aloufi , Ohoud D. AlAmri , Ola H. El-Habit , Ahmed E. Abdel . 2020
Environmental and occupational exposure to heavy metals, including cadmium (Cd), is associated with ex- tremely adverse impacts to living systems. Antioxidant agents are suggested to eliminate Cd intoxication. In this paper, we investigated the potential neuroprotective effect of protocatechuic acid (PCA) against Cd- induced neuronal damage in rats. Adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control, PCA (100 mg/kg)-treated, CdCl2 (6.5 mg/kg)-treated, and PCA and Cd treatment groups. Pre-treatment with PCA sig- nificantly reduced Cd concentrations and increased cortical acetylcholinesterase activity and brain derived neu- rotrophic factor. Additionally, PCA also prevented CdCl2-induced oxidative stress in the cortical tissue by preventing lipid peroxidation and the formation of nitric oxide (NO), and significantly enhancing antioxidant en- zymes. Molecularly, PCA significantly up-regulated the antioxidant gene expression (Sod2, Cat, Gpx1, and Gsr) that was down-regulated by Cd. It should be noted that this effect was achieved by targeting the nuclear- related factor 2 (Nfe2l2) mRNA expression. PCA also prevented the Cd-induced inflammation by reducing the pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β. Moreover, PCA supplemen- tation relieved the Cd-induced neuronal death by increasing Bcl-2 and decreasing Bax and Cas-3 levels in the cor- tical tissue. The improvement of the cortical tissue histopathology by PCA confirmed the biochemical and molecular data. Collectively, our findings indicate that PCA can counteract Cd-induced cortical toxicity by en- hancing the antioxidant defense system and suppressing inflammation and apoptosis.
Mannan oligosaccharide is one of the major components of the yeast cell wall. In the present study, the produc- tion, characterization, and bioactivity of yeast mannan were investigated.
Background Rodentolepis nana (syn. Hymenolepis nana), the most common cyclophyllid tapeworm infecting rodents, is a well-studied gastrointestinal parasite in mice and belongs to the family…