Co-Administration of Vitamins C and E is Protective against Reserpine-induced Motor Impairment in Mice.

Background: The conventional treatments for Parkinson's disease, the most common movement disorder globally, have not been able to halt its progression hence, newer approaches targeting its pathogenesis are being explored. We investigated the effect of vitamins C and E (in combination) on reserpine-induced motor impairment in mice. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five mice were randomly grouped into five groups of five mice each. All the groups except group I (control), were given an alternate days injection of reserpine 0.1 mg/kg intraperitoneally. Groups III and IV were administered vitamin E 200 mg/kg/day (vitamin E group), and vitamin C 250 mg/kg/day (vitamin C group), respectively while group V (co-administered group) was given both vitamins orally. Group II (reserpine group) received nothing in addition to reserpine. All drugs were given concurrently for 28 days. The neurobehavioral assessment was performed using beam walking and open field tasks. Results were presented as mean±SEM and statistical significance was placed at p < 0.05. Results: There were significant increases in a number of foot slips (3.60±0.68; p = 0.002) and the time spent in reaching the 'safe' platform (36.60±5.78 s; p = 0.0001) in the reserpine group, both of which were markedly reduced in the co-administered group (0.25±0.25 and 3.00±0.41s respectively). The co-administered group demonstrated a marked decrease in transfer latency (10.33±1.45s; p = 0.005) and crossed significantly more lines (56.00±13.53 lines; p = 0.0001) in the open field compared to the reserpine group (214.00±64.16s and 4.3±1.67 lines respectively). Conclusion: Co-administration of vitamins C and E protected against motor impairment induced by reserpine in mice.