College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, 28. Xi-nong Road, Yangling 712100, China.
Food Funct. 2014 Jan;5(1):158-66. doi: 10.1039/c3fo60400d.
Astaxanthin (AST) is a carotenoid pigment which possesses potent antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties. The aim of this study was to investigate whether administration of AST had protective effects on D-galactose-induced brain aging in rats, and further examined its protective mechanisms. The results showed that AST treatment significantly restored the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), and increased glutathione (GSH) contents and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), but decreased malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonylation and 8-hydroxy-2- deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels in the brains of aging rats. Furthermore, AST increased the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax, but decreased the expression of Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in the brains of aging rats. Additionally, AST ameliorated histopathological changes in the hippocampus and restored brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in both the brains and hippocampus of aging rats. These results suggested that AST could alleviate brain aging, which may be due to attenuating oxidative stress, ameliorating hippocampus damage, and upregulating BDNF expression.
虾青素（AST）是一种类胡萝卜素色素，具有强大的抗氧化、抗炎和神经保护特性。本研究旨在探讨 AST 对 D-半乳糖诱导的大鼠脑衰老是否具有保护作用，并进一步研究其保护机制。结果表明，AST 治疗可显著恢复谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GSH-PX）和超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）的活性，增加谷胱甘肽（GSH）含量和总抗氧化能力（T-AOC），同时降低丙二醛（MDA）、蛋白质羰基化和 8-羟基-2-脱氧鸟苷（8-OHdG）水平。此外，AST 增加了 Bcl-2/Bax 的比值，但降低了衰老大鼠大脑中环氧化酶-2（COX-2）的表达。此外，AST 改善了海马体的组织病理学变化，并恢复了衰老大鼠大脑和海马体中的脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）水平。这些结果表明，AST 可以减轻脑衰老，这可能是由于减轻氧化应激、改善海马体损伤和上调 BDNF 表达。
