Background:
Several factors including neuroinflammation and oxidative stress formation contribute to the
progression and development of cognitive impairment. Lipopolysaccharide
(LPS) injection has been used as
non
-
transgenic mouse models for Alzheimer’s diseases (AD). Plant medicine has been proposed to be the
prospect in treatment/ management of neurodegenerative disease.
Aim:
The present study sought to evaluate the effect of
three medicinal plants (
Bacopa floribunda
(R.Br)Wettst
,
Scoparia dulcis
L and
Cordia millenii
Bak
.
) locally used for memory enhancement on neuronal histology and
antioxidant status against L
ipopolysaccharide induced neuronal damage in mice
.
Methods:
Forty
-
nine (49) BALB/c male mice were randomly grouped into seven (7) groups of 7 mice each. All
animals except in group I control (vehicle), were injected intraperitoneally (I.P.) with LPS (250 μg/kg) once,
after oral pre
-
treatment with plant extracts an
d control drugs for 7 days. Group II (untreated) received LPS only
(250 μg/kg) , group III received LPS + Sulindac Sulfide (SS, 4 mg/kg), group IV received LPS + Donepezil
(DPZ, 1 mg/kg) group V, VI, and VII received LPS + 200 mg/kg of plant extracts [
Sco
paria dulcis
(SD),
Bacopa floribunda
(BF), and
Cordia millenii
(CM)] respectively. After the experiment, histological analysis of
the hippocampus from the whole brain was carried out while the other brain tissue
s comprising frontal cortex
and
cerebellum we
re used for determination of biomarkers of antioxidant status such as catalase (CAT);
superoxide dismutase (SOD); malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH).
Results:
Oral administration of LPS induced neuronal damage through cell death as eviden
ced by the
histological analysis and altered brain antioxidant status in mice. However, the plant extracts were able to
prevent such neuronal alterations and restored the antioxidant status when compared to the LPS induced
neuronal damage in mice.
Conclusi
on:
LPS induced neuroinflammation was prevented by the extracts of;
B. floribunda, S. dulcis
and
C.
millenni.
Neural damage was also prevented by the extracts. This activity could be attributed to their antioxidant
potential as evidenced from their inhibit
ory effect on MDA and increased CAT activity and GSH. Nevertheless,
other possible mechanisms of action against neuronal damage need to be assessed to further justify their use
traditionally in the treatment/management of neurodegenerative disease