Neuroprotective potential of crocin against malathion-induced motor deficit and neurochemical alterations in rats

Abstract

In several epidemiological studies, an association between pesticide exposure and the incidence of Parkinson's disease (PD) has been reported. Increasing evidence showed that oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of PD. The present study investigated the preventive effect of crocin, saffron active components, on malathion (an organophosphate pesticide (OP))-induced Parkinson-like behaviors in rat. Rats were divided into eight groups: control (normal saline), malathion (100 mg/kg/day, i.p), crocin (10, 20, or 40 mg/kg/day, i.p) plus malathion, levodopa (10 mg/kg/day, i.p) plus malathion, crocin (40 mg/kg/day, i.p), and PEG (vehicle of levodopa) groups. Treatments were continued for 28 days. The neurobehavioral tests which include open field, rotarod and catalepsy were performed on day 28. The activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in serum, the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH), TNF-α, and IL-6 in striatum at the end of treatments were evaluated. Results showed that malathion induced neurobehavioral impairments together with elevation of MDA, TNF-α and IL-6 levels, reduction of GSH, and AChE activity. Crocin (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg) improved neurobehavioral impairments induced by malathion but not AChE activity. Crocin (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg) or levodopa plus malathion decreased MDA and increased GSH. Also crocin (10 mg/kg) decreased TNF-α and IL-6 levels in striatum. In summary, subchronic malathion exposure induced Parkinson-like behavior in rat. Crocin exhibited protective effects against malathion-induced Parkinson-like behavior through reducing lipid peroxidation, improvement of motor deficit and anti-inflammatory effects.

Crocin ameliorated skin tissue inflammation in atopic dermatitis in mice

“…10 Crocin was previously reported to ameliorate inflammation in many pathological conditions as collagen-induced arthritis in rats, malathion-induced Parkinson-like behavior in rats and doxorubicin-induced myocardial toxicity in rats. [11][12][13] However, this is the first study to discover its therapeutic effect in AD.…”

Clinical and metabolic responses to crocin in patients under methadone maintenance treatment: A randomized clinical trial

“…It has also been demonstrated that crocin reduces DNA damage and cell necrosis and prevents the death of PC‐12 cells through sphingomyelinase‐ceramide signaling by enhancing glutathione synthesis (H. Hosseinzadeh, Abootorabi, & Sadeghnia, ; Ochiai et al, ). In addition, several reports showed that crocin has different properties on clinical and metabolic disturbance including increases in mRNA and brain‐derived neurotrophic factor, protein status of VGF neuropeptide, cAMP response element binding (Dorri et al, ; Razavi et al, ), downregulation of mitogen‐activated protein kinase, mitogen‐activated protein kinase‐activated protein signaling pathway, miRNA‐122 expression (Vahdati Hassani, Mehri, Abnous, Birner‐Gruenberger, & Hosseinzadeh, ), inhibiting apoptosis (Razavi, Hosseinzadeh, Abnous, Khoei, & Imenshahidi, ), decreased TNF‐α and IL‐6 levels in striatum (L. Mohammadzadeh, Hosseinzadeh, Abnous, & Razavi, ), modulates IL‐4/IL‐13 signaling (Yosri, Elkashef, Said, & Gameil, ), inhibiting TAU protein hyperphosphorylation, and antiapoptotic effects (Leila Mohammadzadeh, Abnous, Razavi, & Hosseinzadeh, ), alteration of gene expression profile of T24 (transitional cell carcinoma of bladder) cell (Lv, Luo, Ji, & Zhao, ), and regulate the expression of Bcl‐2 with simultaneous up regulation of pro apoptotic Bax in MCF‐7 cells (Bakshi, Hakkim, & Sam, ).…”

Phytotherapic use of the Crocus sativus L. (Saffron) and its potential applications: A brief overview

“…Histopathological analysis in the substantia nigra suggested a neuroprotective effect of crocetin. Finally, crocin was found to improve the Parkinson‐like behavioral deficit in rat (Mohammadzadeh et al, ).…”