The antioxidant effect of astaxanthin is higher in young mice than aged: a region specific study on brain

Abstract

Astaxanthin is a potential antioxidant which shows neuroprotective property. We aimed to investigate the age-dependent and region-specific antioxidant effects of astaxanthin in mice brain. Animals were divided into 4 groups; treatment young (3 months, n = 6) (AY), treatment old (16 months, n = 6) (AO), placebo young (3 months, n = 6) (PY) and placebo old (16 months, n = 6) (PO) groups. Treatment group was given astaxanthin (2 mg/kg/day, body weight), and placebo group was given 100 μl of 0.9% normal saline orally to the healthy Swiss albino mice for 4 weeks. The level of non-enzymatic oxidative markers namely malondialdehyde (MDA); nitric oxide (NO); advanced protein oxidation product (APOP); glutathione (GSH) and the activity of enzymatic antioxidants i.e.; catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined from the isolated brain regions. Treatment with astaxanthin significantly (p < 0.05) reduces the level of MDA, APOP, NO in the cortex, striatum, hypothalamus, hippocampus and cerebellum in both age groups. Astaxanthin markedly (p < 0.05) enhances the activity of CAT and SOD enzymes while improves the level of GSH in the brain. Overall, improvement of oxidative markers was significantly greater in the young group than the aged animal. In conclusion, we report that the activity of astaxanthin is age-dependent, higher in young in compared to the aged brain.

Leptin in hippocampus mediates benefits of mild exercise by an antioxidant on neurogenesis and memory

“…The function of the ABHD3 gene in the hippocampus is still unknown, although these results support the notion that AX diets and/or ME exert antioxidant effects associated with the role of ABHD3. Given that AX has a strong antioxidant capacity in the brain (34), it is possible that ME combined with AX may result in superior protective effects against oxidative stress associated with neurological disorders as well as promotion of healthy brain function. Fig.…”

Microalgal carotenoids and phytosterols regulate biochemical mechanisms involved in human health and disease prevention

“…It inhibits H 2 O 2 -mediated activation of the transcription factor NF-κB that is involved in the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and iNOS engaged against oxidative stress [82]; subsequently, the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines was blocked through the increase of tyrosine phosphatase-1 expression [83]. In brain, the use of astaxanthin has been reported to protect from oxidative stress with a decreased level of MDA and NO and increased activities of catalase and of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and higher glutathione (GSH) levels [84]. It also protects the steroidogenesis from oxidative stress with a prevention in the downregulation of the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), a protein involved in the transport of cholesterol.…”

In-vivo Study on Organometallic Compounds as Anticancer Agents

“…ROS multiple functions and are involved in tumor initiation and progression. MDA, a free oxygen radical product formed during oxidative degeneration of cancerous tissues and as the end product of lipid peroxidation, is a biomarker of oxidative stress that has been reported to be exhibited at higher levels in cancer tissues than in non-diseased organs [20]. Antioxidants with free radical scavenging activities may have great relevance in the prevention and therapeutics of diseases in which oxidants or free radicals are implicated such as cancer [21].…”