Protective Role of Cynodon dactylon in Ameliorating the Aluminium-Induced Neurotoxicity in Rat Brain Regions

Abstract

Cynodon dactylon (Poaceae) is a creeping grass used as a traditional ayurvedic medicine in India. Aluminium-induced neurotoxicity is well known and different salts of aluminium have been reported to accelerate damage to biomolecules like lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether the aqueous extract of C. dactylon (AECD) could potentially prevent aluminium-induced neurotoxicity in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum of the rat brain. Male albino rats were administered with AlCl(3) at a dose of 4.2 mg/kg/day i.p. for 4 weeks. Experimental rats were given C. dactylon extract in two different doses of 300 mg and 750 mg/keg/day orally 1 h prior to the AlCl(3) administration for 4 weeks. At the end of the experiments, antioxidant status and activities of ATPases in cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum of rat brain were measured. Aluminium administration significantly decreased the level of GSH and the activities of SOD, GPx, GST, Na(+)/K(+) ATPase, and Mg(2+) ATPase and increased the level of lipid peroxidation (LPO) in all the brain regions when compared with control rats. Pre-treatment with AECD at a dose of 750 mg/kg b.w increased the antioxidant status and activities of membrane-bound enzymes (Na(+)/K(+) ATPase and Mg(2+) ATPase) and also decreased the level of LPO significantly, when compared with aluminium-induced rats. The results of this study indicated that AECD has potential to protect the various brain regions from aluminium-induced neurotoxicity.

Chemical constituents and pharmacological effects of Cynodon dactylon- A Review

“…Aluminium administration significantly decreased the level of GSH and the activities of SOD, GPx, GST, Na + /K + ATPase, and Mg 2+ ATPase and increased the level of lipid peroxidation (LPO) in all the brain regions when compared with control rats. Pre-treatment with AECD at a dose of 750 mg/kg bw increased the antioxidant status and activities of membrane-bound enzymes Na + /K + ATPase, and Mg 2+ ATPase and also decreased the level of LPO significantly, when compared with aluminium-induced neurotoxicity group [112].…”

Detoxification capacity and protective effects of medicinal plants (part 2): plant based review

“…Aluminium administration significantly decreased the level of GSH and the activities of SOD, GPx, GST, Na + /K + ATPase, and Mg 2+ ATPase and increased the level of lipid peroxidation (LPO) in all the brain regions when compared with control rats. Pre-treatment with AECD at a dose of 750 mg/kg bw increased the antioxidant status and activities of membrane-bound enzymes Na + /K + ATPase, and Mg 2+ ATPase and also decreased the level of LPO significantly, when compared with aluminium-induced neurotoxicity group [127].…”

Role of Metabolic Genes in Blood Aluminum Concentrations of Jamaican Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Besides a direct relationship with oxidative stress accumulation, aluminum inhibits biological oxidative stress management systems by interfering with the glutathione S-transferase (GST) detoxification system [17,30]. GSTs are multi-gene isoenzymes that are encoded by three separate families of genes, including cytosolic, microsomal, and mitochondrial transferases [31,32,33,34,35], which are involved in the cellular detoxification of both xenobiotic and endobiotic compounds [31,32,36].…”

“…In three studies, rodents treated with aluminum have reduced amounts of GSH [17,30,40]. The aluminum-associated GST/GSH effects observed in animal models have been reproduced in human studies.…”