RESUMEN
Background and purpose: Antioxidants and vitamin D3 are currently used for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases although their mechanism of action is not well understood. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of combined administration of vitamins D3 and E on demyelination, cell death and remyelination of rat hippocampus following the local ethidium bromide [EB] injection
Methods and Materials: This experimental study was conducted on 32 Spague rats. After EB-induced demyelination, animals received intraperitoneal vitamin E [100 mg/kg] and D3 [5microg/kg] together for 7 days. The extent and intensity of demyelination were studied by luxol fats blue staining, the activated caspase-3 genes and MBP. The study data were analyzed in SPSS using one-way ANOVA and Tukey post test
Results: The findings revealed that the combined administration of vitamins E and D3 for 7 days caused a significant reduction in the expression of activated caspase-3 [10 +/- 0] [p<0.001], as well as a significant increase in MBP expression [236 +/- 30] [p<0.001]. EB injection alone significantly increased demylination [p<0.05]. Combined administration of the two vitamins significantly reduced the extent of demyelination [0.1 +/- 0.03] [p<0.05], and increased remyelination intensity [0.6 +/- 0.06] [p<0.05]
Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that the combined administration of vitamins E and D3 reduced EB induced demyelination and apopthosis, and improved remyelination