Beneficial Effect of Vitamin E in Rotenone Induced Model of PD: Behavioural, Neurochemical and Biochemical Study

Parkinson's disease (PD) a neurodegenerative disorder for which no preventive or long-term effective treatment strategies are available. Epidemiologic studies have failed to identify specific environmental, dietary or lifestyle risk factors for PD. However, oxidative stress in the SN is the most broadly accepted hypothesis for the etiopathology of PD. The Symptoms do not appear until there is a decline of striatal dopamine levels by 80% making it difficult to have early therapeutic interventions. Thus, the present experiment was designed to track down the sequential changes starting from the initiation of motor dysfunction and associated biochemical abnormality in rotenone based PD model. The study also evaluated the neuroprotective efficacy of vitamin E. Rats were treated with rotenone 2 mg/kg b.wt (s.c.) for 35 days. The level of dopamine decreased by 70~80% which was in turn reflected by marked deterioration in motor function such as (Total locomotor activity and catalepsy). Along with these the level of GSH and SOD declined significantly which was associated with elevated lipid peroxidation levels as much as by 60%.Vitamin E co-administration at a dose of 100 I.U/kg b.wt (i.m.) ameliorated rotenone induced changes in motor functions i.e Total locomotor activity and Catalepsy at the end of 5th week. Further, vitamin E supplementation significantly decreased lipid peroxidation and improved associated biochemical parameters i.e SOD and GSH level. Most interestingly the changes appeared as early as 3rd week suggesting that supplementation of vitamin E right at the beginning should be neuroprotective in PD.

Efficacy of golden rain tree against free radicals and H2O2-induced damage to pUC18/calf thymus DNA

Objective: To investigate the antioxidant and genoprotective potential of the methanol extract (METH-KP) along with its hexane fraction (HEX-KP) from the leaves of Koelreuteria paniculata (K. paniculata) Laxm. Methods: The antioxidant potential was checked using metal chelation assay, ABTS, DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl), reducing power and superoxide anion radical scavenging assay, Folin-Ciocalteu reducing capacity (FCR assay), Total flavonoid content (TFC assay) and genoprotective activity against the DNA damage induced by Fenton's reagent using pUC18/calf thymus. Results: Results showed that radical scavenging activities of the both test extract/fraction revealed a concentration-dependent antiradical activity in all the assays. In Metal chelation assay, METH-KP and HEX-KP showed 39.04% and 32.51% of scavenging at highest tested concentrations. The METH-KP exhibited IC50 of 54.54 μg/mL in ABTS, 115 μg/mL in DPPH, 110 μg/mL in reducing power and 135 μg/mL in superoxide anion radical scavenging assay while that HEX-KP was found to be very poor in radical scavenging in all the above assays. The phytochemical analysis showed good amount of phenolic and flavonoid compounds in METH-KP while the HEX-KP fraction lacks phenols. The METH-KP extract and HEX-KP fraction both showed DNA protective effect in Calf thymus/pUC18 DNA protection studies. Conclusions: The activity of METH-KP may be attributed to its polyphenolic constituents which needs further isolation of its active constituents which may lead to the development of novel drugs to combat cancer.