Effect of Vitamin E on the Content and Polypeptide Composition of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein from the Rat Brain under Conditions of Aluminum Chloride Intoxication

Abstract

We studied the effects of isolated and combined chronic (21 days) introductions of aluminum chloride and vitamin E (α-tocopherol) on the polypeptide composition and content of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in different brain structures of rats. Injections of AlCl 3 solution (12 mg/kg, i.p., daily) caused the appearance of low-molecular (47 to 38 kdalton) polypeptides and an increase in the content of GFAP in cytoskeletal fractions to 160 to 220%, as compared with the control. Introduction of vitamin E within the same interval provided significant normalization of the GFAP content in the brain of animals injected with AlCl 3 and to a considerable extent prevented the appearance of degraded polypeptides in the GFAP composition. We discuss the prospects of using vitamin E as an antioxidant for the correction of Al 3+ -induced pathological processes in the CNS.