Department of Biochemistry, University of KwaZulu-Natal (Westville Campus), Durban, South Africa.
Department of Biochemistry, Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria.
J Biochem Mol Toxicol. 2021 Jan;35(1):e22610. doi: 10.1002/jbt.22610. Epub 2020 Sep 1.
Impaired glucose utilization has been implicated in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases. The neuroprotective effect of caffeic acid (CA) was investigated in the isolated rat brain by determining its ability to promote glucose uptake, mitigate redox imbalance, modulate purinergic and cholinergic activities, elemental distribution, and maintain tissue morphology. Isolated rat brains were incubated for 2 hours with glucose, CA and glucose, and metformin and glucose. There was an increased glucose uptake, glutathione level, superoxide dismutase, and catalase activities in brain tissues incubated with CA compared to the controls. Incubation with CA also led to significantly decreased levels of malondialdehyde, nitric oxide, acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase, and ATPase activities. Electron microscopy (scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy) analysis portrayed a maintenance of tissue ultrastructural morphology in 2CA-incubated tissues as indicated by the intact synaptic vesicles, blood vessels, dendritic and neuronal network, mitochondria, and presynaptic membrane. CA also restored altered elemental levels in brain tissues. These results indicate the stimulatory potential of CA on brain glucose utilization with simultaneous neuroprotective activities.
葡萄糖利用受损与神经退行性疾病的病理生理学有关。本研究通过测定咖啡酸（CA）促进葡萄糖摄取、减轻氧化还原失衡、调节嘌呤能和胆碱能活性、元素分布以及维持组织形态的能力，研究了 CA 在离体鼠脑中的神经保护作用。将离体鼠脑与葡萄糖、CA 和葡萄糖以及二甲双胍和葡萄糖孵育 2 小时。与对照组相比，用 CA 孵育的脑组织中葡萄糖摄取、谷胱甘肽水平、超氧化物歧化酶和过氧化氢酶活性增加。用 CA 孵育还导致丙二醛、一氧化氮、乙酰胆碱酯酶、丁酰胆碱酯酶和 ATP 酶活性显著降低。电子显微镜（扫描电子显微镜和透射电子显微镜）分析表明，2CA 孵育组织中的组织超微结构形态得以维持，表现为完整的突触小泡、血管、树突和神经元网络、线粒体和突触前膜。CA 还恢复了脑组织中改变的元素水平。这些结果表明 CA 对大脑葡萄糖利用具有刺激作用，同时具有神经保护作用。
