Neuroprotective Effects of Lycium Barbarum Berry on Neurobehavioral Changes and Neuronal Loss in the Hippocampus of Mice Exposed to Acute Ionizing Radiation

Abstract

Background: Brain exposure to ionizing radiation during the radiotherapy of brain tumor or metastasis of peripheral cancer cells to the brain has resulted in cognitive dysfunction by reducing neurogenesis in hippocampus. Methods: To demonstrate the radioprotective effect of lycium barbarum berry extract (Lyc), we evaluated the neurobehavioral alterations and the numbers of NeuN, calbindin (CB) and parvalbumin (PV) immunopositive hippocampal neurons in BALB/c mice after acute 5.5 Gy radiation with/without oral administration of Lyc at the dosage of 10 g/kg daily for 4 weeks. Results: The results showed that Lyc could improve irradiation-induced animal weight loss, depressive behaviors, spatial memory impairment and hippocampal neuron loss. Immunohistochemistry study demonstrated that the loss of NeuN-immunopositive neuron in the hilus of the dentate gyrus, CB-immunopositive neuron in CA1 strata radiatum, lacunosum moleculare and oriens, and PV-positive neuron in CA1 stratum pyramidum and stratum granulosum of the dentate gyrus after irradiation were significantly improved by Lyc treatment. Conclusions: The neuroprotective effect of Lyc on those hippocampal neurons may benefit the configuration of learning related neuronal networks and then improve radiation induced neurobehavioral changes such as cognitive impairment and depression. It suggests that lycium barbarum berry may be used as a potential radio-neuro-protective food supplement to prevent ionizing radiation induced neuron loss and neuropsychological disorders.

Fruits and their phytochemicals in mitigating the ill effects of ionizing radiation: review on the existing scientific evidence and way forward

“…In addition to its hematopoietic protective effects studies have also shown that goji berry possesses neuroprotective effects against radiation-induced damage as observed by reduced levels in the neurobehavioral changes, and it mediates the protective effects at least in part by lowering the neuronal loss in the hippocampus region in laboratory mice. 140 In this study, compared to the radiation alone (5.5 Gy) group, feeding the aqueous extract of Lycium barbarum (10 g per kg body weight daily for 4 weeks) after radiation exposure caused an improvement in animal weight loss, reduced the degree of depressive behaviors, and decreased the spatial memory impairment and the loss of hippocampal neurons. 140 Mechanistic studies have suggested that post-radiation a significant decrease in the levels of NeuN-immunopositive neurons in the hilus of the dentate gyrus region, CB-immuno-positive neurons in the CA1 stratum pyramidal and stratum granulosum of the dentate gyrus region and PV-positive neurons in the CA1 stratum pyramidal and stratum granulosum of the dentate gyrus region was mitigated by the administration of the aqueous extract of the berries and the effect is reported to be mediated by preventing neuroinflammation and the levels of oxidative stress 140 (Table 1).…”

Lycium barbarum Ameliorates Neural Damage Induced by Experimental Ischemic Stroke and Radiation Exposure

“…In the brain, Lycium barbarum berry extraction prevented radiation-induced hippocampal neuron loss, and alleviated radiation-induced spatial memory and emotional impairment, and improved the behavioral performance of BALB/c mice exposed to acute 5.5 Gy X-ray [49]. LBP pretreatment for 2 weeks reduced brain MDA, but enhanced SOD and GSH-Px expression.…”

“…Several studies have shown that Lycium barbarum or Lycium barbarum extract play a vital role against radiationinduced damage [26,49,81,82]. In the mouse X-ray radiation model, Lycium ruthenicum Murr reversed radiationinduced decrease of the body weight, alterations in hematology, thymus and spleen indexes, and reduced the expression of caspase-3, caspase-6 and P53 [82].…”

“…Furthermore, in in-vitro studies, LBP improved cell viability, and had a neuroprotective role in spinal cord neurons exposed to 10Gy X-ray radiation by upregulating the expression of LC3II/I and Beclin-1 [131,132] (Table 3, Ref. [49,[130][131][132]).…”

“…Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP), the main active component of Lycium barbarum, has been shown to possess anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and anti-aging properties [43][44][45][46][47]. Numerous studies have suggested the potential use of LBP or Lycium barbarum in protecting against damage induced by experimental ischemic stroke and radiation exposure [48,49]. In this study, we review the neuroprotective effects and molecular mechanisms of Lycium barbarum in experimental ischemic strokes and radiation exposure.…”