Abstract
Aluminium (Al) is a potent neurotoxic metal known to cause neurodegeneration. Al exposure causes oxidative stress by accumulation of reactive oxygen species, followed by the activation of neuronal cell death in the brain. Asiatic acid (AA), the major bioactive compound of Centella asiatica (a medicinal plant), act as multifunctional drug as well as an antioxidant. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the potential neuroprotective effect of AA against Al neurotoxicity. Rats were orally administered aluminium chloride (AlCl3; 100 mg/kg b. wt.) dissolved in distilled water for 8 weeks or AA (75 mg/kg b. wt.) in combination with AlCl3. The results showed that AlCl3-intoxication causes significant impairment of memory, enhances anxiety-like behavior, acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) activity, malondialdehydes (MDA) level, and concomitant decrease in the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in the cortex and hippocampus regions of rat brain. In addition, AlCl3-intoxication enhanced neuronal loss and reactive astrogliosis in both regions. However, co-administration of AA with AlCl3 significantly attenuated the behavioral alterations, restored SOD and CAT activities, while reduced AChE activity and MDA content. Further, the study demonstrated that AA attenuates neuronal loss and reactive astrogliosis in rat brain. In conclusion, the study suggests that AA protects rat brain from Al neurotoxicity by inhibiting oxidative stress, neuronal loss and reactive astrogliosis.
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Authors would like to acknowledge the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, India for providing financial assistance in the form of Junior Research Fellowship to JS.
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This study was funded by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, India and School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
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JS and DS designed the study. JS performed experiments, collected and analysed data, and prepared initial draft of the manuscript. CP assisted to analyse data, edited figures, table and manuscript. DS critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
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All procedures carried out in rats were duly approved by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee of JNU, New Delhi (IAEC code: 27/2018) and performed as per the guidelines of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals, New Delhi, India.
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Suryavanshi, J., Prakash, C. & Sharma, D. Asiatic acid attenuates aluminium chloride-induced behavioral changes, neuronal loss and astrocyte activation in rats. Metab Brain Dis 37, 1773–1785 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-022-00998-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-022-00998-3