Abstract
The present study aimed to investigate betanin’s neuroprotective effect in mice with rotenone-induced Parkinson-like motor dysfunction and neurodegeneration. Forty male ICR mice were divided into 4 groups: Sham-veh, Rot-veh, Rot-Bet100 and Rot-Bet200. Rotenone (Rot) at 2.5 mg/kg/48 h was subcutaneous injected, and betanin (Bet) at 100 and 200 mg/kg/48 h were given alternately with the Rot injections in Rot-Bet groups for 6 weeks. Motor dysfunctions were evaluated weekly using hanging wire and rotarod tests. Malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), neuronal degeneration in the motor cortex (MC), striatum (Str) and substantia nigra par compacta (SNc) were evaluated. The immunohistochemical densities of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in Str and in SNc were also measured. We found that rotenone significantly decreased the time to fall in a hanging wire test after the 4th week and after the rotarod test at the 6th week (p<0.05). The percentage of neuronal degeneration in MC, Str and SNc (p<0.05) significantly increased, and the TH density in Str and in SNc (p<0.05) significantly decreased. Betanin at 100 and 200 mg/kg significantly prevented MC, Str and SNc neuronal degeneration (p<0.05) and prevented the decrease of TH density in Str and in SNc (p<0.05). These findings appeared concurrently with improved effects on the time to fall in hanging wire and rotarod tests (p<0.05). Treatment with betanin significantly prevented increased MDA levels and boosted GSH, CAT and SOD activities (p<0.05). Betanin exhibits neuroprotective effects against rotenone-induced Parkinson in mice regarding both motor dysfunction and neurodegeneration. Betanin’s neurohealth benefit relates to its powerful antioxidative property. Therefore, betanin use in neurodegenerative disease therapy is interesting to study.