scholarly journals ANTINEURODEGENERATIVE ACTIVITY OF MICROALGAE DUNALIELLA SALINA IN RATS WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

Author(s):  
Farouk Kamel Elbaz ◽  
Hanan F Aly ◽  
Wagdy Kb Khalil ◽  
Hoda F Booles ◽  
Gamila H Al

ABSTRACTObjective: The present study is aimed to investigate the promising action of Dunaliella salina extract as a natural protector against Alzheimer’sdisease (AD) and reported to possess a variety of activities, including antioxidant effects due to its ability to create large amount of carotenoids.Methods: D. salina is a type of halophile green microalgae was used in the present study. 50 male rats were used in this study, where aluminumchloride was orally administered to induce AD in a dose of 100 mg/kg, daily for 6 weeks. Al-intoxicated rats treated orally daily with D. salinaethanolic extract for 6 weeks in a dose of 150 mg/kg b.wt., whereas standard anti-Alzheimer drug donepezil tartrate was administered at the doseof 10 mg/kg b.wt./day for 6 consecutive weeks. The anti-Alzheimer properties of D. salina extract were achieved through measuring the calmodulin(CaM) level, paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity, the antiapoptotic marker (Bcl2), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), the generation of the DNAadducts (8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine [8-OHdG]/2-deoxy guanosine [2-dG]), and alteration in the expression of amyloid precursor protein, β-siteAPP-cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1), and β-site APP-cleaving enzyme 2 (BACE2) in AD rats.Results: The current results demonstrated that supplementation of AD rats with D. salina extract-enhanced CaM level, and increased PON1 activity,upregulated Bcl2 and BDNF, decreased the levels of DNA adducts (8-OHdG/2-dG), and suppressed the alterations of the expression levels of APP,BACE1, and BACE2-m RNAs as compared with those in AD rats.Conclusion: It could be concluded that the biological activity of D. salina extract might be regulated by 9-cis b-carotene protecting the brain cells fromthe oxidative stress in AD rats.Keywords: Dunaliella salina, Calmodulin, Paraoxonase 1, Bcl2, Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, Alzheimer’s disease, DNA adduct, Amyloid precursorprotein.

Author(s):  
Sara M. Bodner ◽  
Wade Berrettini ◽  
Vivianna van Deerlin ◽  
David A. Bennett ◽  
Robert S. Wilson ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Debora Cutuli ◽  
Eugenia Landolfo ◽  
Laura Petrosini ◽  
Francesca Gelfo

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein belonging to the neurotrophin family, is known to be heavily involved in synaptic plasticity processes that support brain development, post-lesion regeneration, and cognitive performances, such as learning and memory. Evidence indicates that BDNF expression can be epigenetically regulated by environmental stimuli and thus can mediate the experience-dependent brain plasticity. Environmental enrichment (EE), an experimental paradigm based on the exposure to complex stimulations, constitutes an efficient means to investigate the effects of high-level experience on behavior, cognitive processes, and neurobiological correlates, as the BDNF expression. In fact, BDNF exerts a key role in mediating and promoting EE-induced plastic changes and functional improvements in healthy and pathological conditions. This review is specifically aimed at providing an updated framework of the available evidence on the EE effects on brain and serum BDNF levels, by taking into account both changes in protein expression and regulation of gene expression. A further purpose of the present review is analyzing the potential of BDNF regulation in coping with neurodegenerative processes characterizing Alzheimer’s disease (AD), given BDNF expression alterations are described in AD patients. Moreover, attention is also paid to EE effects on BDNF expression in other neurodegenerative disease. To investigate such a topic, evidence provided by experimental studies is considered. A deeper understanding of environmental ability in modulating BDNF expression in the brain may be fundamental in designing more tuned and effective applications of complex environmental stimulations as managing approaches to AD.


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