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Effects of three doses of ascorbate on tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivities in the brain of paraquat‐injected C57BL/6 mice
Author(s) -
Kang Min Jeong,
Koh Hyun Chul,
Lee Sang Sun
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.1104.8
Subject(s) - paraquat , striatum , tyrosine hydroxylase , chemistry , substantia nigra , endocrinology , medicine , neurotoxicity , saline , dopamine , antioxidant , pharmacology , toxicity , dopaminergic , biochemistry , biology
There has been increasing evidence that ascorbate is an important antioxidant, enzyme co‐factor and neuromodulator in the brain. Paraquat produces a selective and potentiated neurotoxicity to the nigrostriatal dopamine system. We investigated the effects of ascorbate on tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivities (TH‐ir) in substantia nigra (SN) and striatum of paraquat‐injected C57BL/6 mice. Male C57BL/6 mice (aged 7 week and 23–25g) were divided into five groups (n = 6). Ascorbate (4, 40, 400 mg/kg b.w., i.p.; LCPQ, ICPQ, HCPQ) treated daily for 4 weeks from 3 d before first paraquat injection. Paraqaut (10 mg/kg, i.p.) was administrated twice per week for 3 consecutive weeks. Saline was injected in intact mice (CON) and paraquat‐injected mice (CONPQ). The densities of TH‐ir neurons in the SN were in LCPQ and ICPQ groups higher than in CONPQ and HCPQ groups. The densities of TH‐ir fibers in the ventral subregion of rostral striatum and the dorsal subregion of caudal striatum were decreased approximately 20% in the CONPQ group relative to the CON group. In conclusion, these paraquat‐induced neurotoxicities in the brain may be prevented by 4 and 40 mg/kg dose of ascorbate. On the other hand, the 400 mg/kg dose of ascorbate did not show protective effects on paraquat‐injected mice. However, further studies are needed to understand the mechanism of ascorbate in the paraquat‐injected mice.