Sankar Srinivasagam Raja, Manivasagam Thamilarasan, Krishnamurti Arumugam, Ramanathan Manickam
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Annamalai University Annamalainagar, 608 002, India.
Cell Mol Biol Lett. 2007;12(4):473-81. doi: 10.2478/s11658-007-0015-0. Epub 2007 Apr 6.
We studied the influence of Withania somnifera (Ws) root extract (100 mg/kg body weight) on parkinsonism induced by 1-methyl 4-phenyl 1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP; i.p, 20 mg/kg body weight for 4 days), via the analysis of behavioral features and the oxidant-antioxidant imbalance in the midbrain of mice. A significant alteration in behavior, increased levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS), and increased activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were noticed in this region of brain in MPTP-treated mice. Oral treatment with the root extract resulted in a significant improvement in the mice's behavior and antioxidant status, along with a significant reduction in the level of lipid peroxidation. The results indicated that at least part of the chronic stress-induced pathology may be due to oxidative stress, which is mitigated by Ws. Further studies are needed to assess the precise mechanism to support the clinical use of the plant as an antiparkinsonic drug.
我们通过分析小鼠行为特征以及中脑氧化-抗氧化失衡情况，研究了睡茄（Ws）根提取物（100毫克/千克体重）对1-甲基-4-苯基-1,2,3,6-四氢吡啶（MPTP；腹腔注射，20毫克/千克体重，连续4天）诱导的帕金森症的影响。在MPTP处理的小鼠中，该脑区出现了行为显著改变、硫代巴比妥酸反应性物质（TBARS）水平升高以及超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）和过氧化氢酶（CAT）活性增加的情况。用根提取物进行口服治疗使小鼠行为和抗氧化状态得到显著改善，同时脂质过氧化水平显著降低。结果表明，至少部分慢性应激诱导的病理状态可能归因于氧化应激，而睡茄可减轻这种氧化应激。需要进一步研究以评估支持该植物作为抗帕金森病药物临床应用的精确机制。
