Quercetin and Omega 3 ameliorate oxidative stress-induced neurodegeneration by Aluminium Chloride

Background

Background Exposure to high levels of Aluminium (Al) leads to a neurodegenerative disorders , which may be mediated through over generation of free radicals. So in the present study we investigated the ability of both Quercetin and Omega 3 to ameliorate Al adverse effect on brain antioxidant through monitoring the main brain antioxidant enzymes on molecular and cellular levels.

Materials and methods

Forty male albino rats were used, they were divided into 4 groups; Control, Aluminum Chloride (AlCl3) supplemented group that orally supplemented with 100mg of AlCl3 (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) per Kg b.w. for two months. Quercetin group treated as ALCl3 group and orally supplemented with 100 mg/kg b.w. Quercetin for two months according to Hui et al. [1] and Omega 3 group that treated as ALCl3 and orally supplemented with 20 mg/kg b.w. Omega 3 for two months. At the end of the experiments, brain samples were taken and used for biochemical and molecular analysis.

Results

Our results indicate a significant increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and MDA level and a significant decrease in the activities of catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) in brain tissues in AlCl3 supplemented group when compared with control or Quercetin and Omega 3 supplemented groups (Table 1). At the molecular level SOD mRNA showed the highest expression level in the AlCl3 supplemented group while the highest expression levels of mRNAs of CAT, GPx and GR was observed in the Quecetin and Omega 3 supplemented groups (Figure 1).

Table 1 Effects of ALCl3, Qurcetin and Omega 3 on antioxidants and MDA in brain tissues of rat.

Figure 1

Expression level of mRNAs of (A) CAT, (B) SOD, (C) GPx and (D) GR genes in the brain tissue of rats. M: marker, 1: control group, 2: AlCl3 supplemented group, 3: Quecetin supplemented group and 4: Omega 3 supplemented group.

Conclusions

Both Quercetin and Omega 3 has the ability to overcome the Al induced oxidative stress in brain, manifested by the significant reduction in free radicals concentration and induction of the activity and gene expression of the brain antioxidant enzymes.