Leão Luana K R, Herculano Anderson M, Maximino Caio, Brasil Costa Alódia, Gouveia Amauri, Batista Evander O, Rocha Fernando F, Crespo-Lopez Maria Elena, Borges Rosivaldo, Oliveira Karen
a Laboratório de Neuroendocrinologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas , Universidade Federal do Pará , Brazil.
b Laboratório de Neurociências e Comportamento, Núcleo de Teoria e Pesquisa do Comportamento , Universidade Federal do Pará , Brazil.
Nutr Neurosci. 2017 Jun;20(5):297-304. doi: 10.1080/1028415X.2015.1133030. Epub 2016 Feb 16.
Methylmercury (MeHg) is the most toxic form of mercury that can affect humans through the food chain by bioaccumulation. Human organism is capable of triggering visual and cognitive disorders, neurodegeneration, as well as increased production of reactive species of O2 and depletion of natural anti-oxidant agents. In this context, Mauritia flexuosa L., a fruit rich in compounds with anti-oxidant properties, emerged as an important strategy to prevent the MeHg damages. So, this work has aimed to elucidate the protective effect of Mauritia flexuosa L. on the damage caused by the exposure of rats to MeHg.
In order to evaluate the effect of MeHg on rat aversive memory acquisition and panic-like behavior, we have used elevated T-maze apparatus and after behavioral test, the hippocampus was removed to perfom lipid peroxidation.
Our results demonstrated that the exposure to MeHg caused deficits in inhibitory avoidance acquisition (aversive conditioning) and in the learning process, and increased levels of lipid peroxidation in hippocampus tissue. However, the pretreatment with feed enriched with Mauritia flexuosa L. showed a protective effect against cognitive deficits caused by MeHg and also prevented the occurrence of cytoplasmic membrane damage induced by lipid peroxidation in the hippocampal region.
Therefore, this study suggests that Mauritia flexuosa L. represents an important strategy to prevent neurocytotoxics and behavioral effects of MeHg.
甲基汞（MeHg）是汞的毒性最强的形式，可通过生物累积作用经食物链影响人类。人体能够引发视觉和认知障碍、神经退行性变，以及增加活性氧的产生并耗尽天然抗氧化剂。在此背景下，富含具有抗氧化特性化合物的毛里求斯棕桐果成为预防甲基汞损害的一项重要策略。因此，本研究旨在阐明毛里求斯棕桐果对大鼠暴露于甲基汞所造成损害的保护作用。
为了评估甲基汞对大鼠厌恶记忆获取和惊恐样行为的影响，我们使用了高架T迷宫装置，在行为测试后，取出海马体进行脂质过氧化检测。
我们的结果表明，暴露于甲基汞会导致抑制性回避获取（厌恶条件反射）和学习过程出现缺陷，并增加海马体组织中的脂质过氧化水平。然而，用富含毛里求斯棕桐果的饲料进行预处理，对甲基汞引起的认知缺陷具有保护作用，还能防止海马区脂质过氧化诱导的细胞质膜损伤的发生。
因此，本研究表明，毛里求斯棕桐果是预防甲基汞神经细胞毒性和行为影响的一项重要策略。
