Standardized Bacopa monnieri extract ameliorates acute paraquat-induced oxidative stress, and neurotoxicity in prepubertal mice brain.
OBJECTIVES
Bacopa monnieri (BM), an ayurvedic medicinal plant, has attracted considerable interest owing to its diverse neuropharmacological properties. Epidemiological studies have shown significant correlation between paraquat (PQ) exposure and increased risk for Parkinson's disease in humans. In this study, we examined the propensity of standardized extract of BM to attenuate acute PQ-induced oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunctions, and neurotoxicity in the different brain regions of prepubertal mice.


METHODS
To test this hypothesis, prepubertal mice provided orally with standardized BM extract (200 mg/kg body weight/day for 4 weeks) were challenged with an acute dose (15 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoneally) of PQ after 3 hours of last dose of extract. Mice were sacrificed after 48 hours of PQ injection, and different brain regions were isolated and subjected to biochemical determinations/quantification of central monoamine (dopamine, DA) levels (by high-performance liquid chromatography).


RESULTS
Oral supplementation of BM for 4 weeks resulted in significant reduction in the basal levels of oxidative markers such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), and hydroperoxides (HP) in various brain regions. PQ at the administered dose elicited marked oxidative stress within 48 hours in various brain regions of mice. However, BM prophylaxis significantly improved oxidative homeostasis by restoring PQ-induced ROS, MDA, and HP levels and also by attenuating mitochondrial dysfunction. Interestingly, BM supplementation restored the activities of cholinergic enzymes along with the restoration of striatal DA levels among the PQ-treated mice.


DISCUSSION
Based on these findings, we infer that BM prophylaxis renders the brain resistant to PQ-mediated oxidative perturbations and thus may be better exploited as a preventive approach to protect against oxidative-mediated neuronal dysfunctions.
['Hosamani|Ravikumar|R|', 'Krishna|Gokul|G|', 'Muralidhara|||']
D000818:Animals D000975:Antioxidants D034681:Bacopa D015415:Biomarkers D001921:Brain D019587:Dietary Supplements D004298:Dopamine D020834:Ethnopharmacology D006540:Herbicides D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal D015227:Lipid Peroxidation D008297:Male D008515:Medicine, Ayurvedic D051379:Mice D008928:Mitochondria D009474:Neurons D018696:Neuroprotective Agents D020258:Neurotoxicity Syndromes D018384:Oxidative Stress D010269:Paraquat D010936:Plant Extracts D011897:Random Allocation
Bacopa monnieri Oxidative stress Mice Paraquat Parkinson's disease Mitochondrial dysfunctions