Prevention of cadmium-induced neurotoxicity in rats by essential nutrients present in nuts

Abstract

Cadmium, a heavy metal with no physiological function in the human body, is considered a bio-hazard. It is also considered to be a potent neurotoxin. The primary sources of cadmium exposure are diet and cigarette smoke. It has been postulated that nutritional deficiencies can increase the risk of cadmium toxicity. Nuts provide essential nutrients which are necessary for the maintenance of brain health in humans. The present study was designed to investigate the possible protective effects of almond and walnut supplementation on cadmium-induced neurotoxicity. Cadmium was orally administered at a dose of 50 mg/kg weekly with or without the supplementation of almond and walnut in rats. Intensities of depression-and anxiety-related behaviors were assessed by the forced swim test and light/dark transition test, respectively. Memory function was also evaluated by the elevated plus maze, Morris water maze and novel object recognition task. After four weeks of treatment it was observed that cadmium administration significantly induced depressogenic and anxiogenic behaviors. Memory function was also impaired by cadmium administration. Cadmium-treated rats exhibited reduced noradrenalin, dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain, whereas the levels of their respective metabolites were significantly increased. The dietary supplementation of almond and walnut at a dose of 400 mg/kg/day significantly attenuated cadmium-induced depression, anxiety and memory impairments. Neurochemical aberrations also normalized following supplementation with these nuts in rats. The present study demonstrates that long-term supplementation with almond and walnut provides essential nutrients which may overcome nutritional deficiencies and thereby reduce heavy-metal intoxication.

Naringenin protects AlCl3/D-galactose induced neurotoxicity in rat model of AD via attenuation of acetylcholinesterase levels and inhibition of oxidative stress

“…For determination of biogenic amines in hippocampus and cortex, homogenization of frozen brains was carried out in an extraction medium using an electrical homogenizer (Polytron; Kinematica). The neurochemical analysis was done to assess concentrations of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), dopamine (DA), and their metabolites 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and dihydroxyphenyl acetic acid (DOPAC) in brain as described previously [36]. Reversed-phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with an electrochemical detector (Schimadzu LEC 6 A detector) was performed to detect levels of biogenic amines in brain samples.…”

Pharmacotherapeutic potential of walnut (Juglans spp.) in age-related neurological disorders

“…Further conditions may also develop ( Batool et al, 2017 ). Batool et al (2019) studied the protective effect of nuts such as Walnuts and almonds on the neurotoxicity of cadmium - a metal without physiological function in humans and a potent neurotoxin that is toxic to body tissues due to long half-life and accumulation even in shallow doses-on mice. Cadmium causes depression, anxiety, and decreased memory function by reducing the concentration of noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin in the brain and by significantly increasing the concentration of metabolites.…”

Exposure of metal toxicity in Alzheimer’s disease: An extensive review

“…References (Yadav et al, 2010;Sharma et al, 2014) ( Sharma et al, 2014;Kumar Singh et al, 2018) (Sharma et al, 2014;Batool et al, 2019) (Sharma et al, 2014;Patel and Rao, 2015) Frontiers in Pharmacology frontiersin.org serum copper levels in AD patients (Klevay, 2008). However, no significant difference in copper levels was observed in the CSF of healthy individuals and AD patients (Ventriglia et al, 2012;Vaz et al, 2018).…”