Protective effect of co-administration of vitamins C and E on reserpine-induced oxidative stress in mice

Abstract

Background: Several studies have shown potential benefits of antioxidants in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) but none have combined vitamins C and E targeting the oxidative stress (OS).

Aim: To evaluate the neuroprotective effect of co-administration of vitamins C + E or single vitamin, on parameters of reserpine-induced OS in mice.

Methods: Twenty-five mice were randomly assigned into 5 groups.: Group I received only distilled water (control); other groups received reserpine 0.1 mg/kg intraperitoneally on alternate days. In addition, Group III received vitamin E 200 mg/kg/day orally; group IV, had vitamin C 250 mg/kg/day orally and group V, had both vitamins orally. All drugs were given concurrently for 28 days. The mice were humanely acrificed and brain homogenate made to assess for biomarkers of OS. Data were expressed as mean ± SEM and values at p < 0.05 were considered significant.

Results: The significant increase in malondialdehyde concentrations observed in the Res group (42.2±0.28 Umol/L) compared to control (37.54±1.27 Umol/L), was ameliorated in all the vitamin-treated groups with significance in the Res+Vit C group (35.0±1.69 Umol/L) compared to the Res group (p=0.002). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity increased significantly (p=0.003) across the vitamin-treated groups (24.9±2.11 Umol/mg, 24.0±1.78 Umol/mg and 22.4±1.50 Umol/mg in the Res+Vit E, Res+Vit C and co-administered groups respectively) compared to control (14.3±1.65 Umol/mg), with non-significant increase in the Res group (20.6±1.42 Umol/mg); catalase activity increased significantly in the Res+Vit C (28.0±3.70 Umol/mg) and co-administered (30.2±2.22 Umol/mg) groups compared to controls (14.3±1.65 Umol/mg) and Res (20.6±1.42 Umol/mg) groups (p=0.000), with non-significant increase in the Res+Vit E group (17.6±0.68 Umol/mg). The highest GSH level was seen in the Res group (45.2±2.65 Umol/mgpr) and the lowest level seen in the Res+Vit E group (38.58 ± 1.78 Umol/mgpr) with no significant difference across all the groups (p=0.104).

Conclusion: The co-administration of vitamins C and E fails to confer significant superior neuroprotection against reserpine-induced OS compared to single vitamin administration.

Keywords: Co-administration, neuroprotective, oxidative, reserpine-induced, stress