ABSTRACT
This study comprises two experiments, in the first one pregnant rats were administered a daily dose of 360 mg/kg aluminum chloride from the 8[th] to the 20[th] day of gestation. The aluminum [Al] was given either separately or in combination with 100 mg/kg a tocopherol [vitamin E] or with vitamin E plus 500 mg/kg ascorbic acid [vitamin C] via stomach intubation. In the second experiment, pregnant rats were treated with aluminum as in the previous experiment and the offspring born to aluminum-treated mothers were divided into three groups. The first was given the solvent vehicle; the second was treated with vitamin E and the third with vitamin E plus vitamin C. At the postnatal age of 105 days, the offspring of both experiments were sacrificed to determine the level of free amino acids, monoamine neurotransmitters, DNA, RNA and reduced glutathione [GSH], malondialdehyde [MDA], the activities of Na[+] K[+]-ATPase, superoxide dismutase [SOD] in the brain cortex. In addition, total protein content and acetyicholinesterase [AChE] activity in both cerebral cortex and hippocampus tissues were investigated to evaluate the impact of aluminum and the possible ameliorative effects of vitamin E and C. Aluminum residue was measured in the cerebral cortex of normal rats and those prenatally treated with aluminum. Aluminum caused severe physiological perturbation in the brain neurotransmitters. Vitamin E curtailed some of these aluminum-induced physiological perturbations, whereas vitamins E+C given together almost completely ameliorated these perturbations. The results highlight the importance of these two antioxidant vitamins in counteracting the aluminum damaging effect on the rat nervous system. Based on the present results, administration of vitamin E and C concomitantly is recommended to neonates whose mothers at high risk of aluminum contamination as a preventive and a protective measure against the neurological damage caused by aluminum