Author(s): Correia, Alyne Oliveira ; Cruz, Abílio Augusto Pimentel ; Aquino, Arôdo Tenório Ribeiro de ; Diniz, Joanisson Rubens Gomes ; Santana, Karizia Bianca Ferreira ; Cidade, Pedro Ivo Martins ; Peixoto, Jaine Dantas ; Lucetti, Daniel Luna ; Nobre, Maria Elizabeth Pereira ; Cruz, Giovany Michely Pinto da ; Neves, Kelly Rose Tavares ; Viana, Glauce Socorro de Barros
Date: 2016
Origin: Oasisbr
Subject(s): Estresse Oxidativo; Oxidative Stress; Mal de Parkinson
Piperine (PIP), an alkaloid from the Piper genus plants, presents biological properties, including potent anti-inflammatory actions. Since neuroinflammation plays a key role in Parkinson's disease (PD), the objectives were to evaluate the neuroprotective activity of PIP in a model of PD. Male Wistar rats were divided as: sham-operated (SO), untreated 6-OHDA (lesioned in the right striatum) and 6-OHDA lesioned and treated orally with PIP (5 and 10 mg/kg, 2 weeks). The SO group was injected with saline into the right striatum. The SO and untreated 6-OHDA groups were administered with water, for 2 weeks. All animals were subjected to behavioral (open field, rotarod, and apomorphine-induced rotations tests), neurochemical (DA and DOPAC determinations), histological (fluoro jade staining) and immunohistochemical analyses (TH, DAT, TNF-alpha and iNOS). The results showed that PIP reversed behavioral alterations observed in the untreated 6-OHDA group. DA and DOPAC contents decreased in the striatal lesioned side of the untreated 6-OHDA group, but this change was in part reversed by PIP, at the higher dose. The fluoro jade fluorescence, observed in the untreated 6-OHDA group was attenuated after PIP treatments. Furthermore, increased immunoreactivities for TH and DAT were completely reversed in the lesioned group after PIP treatments. In addition, a partial recovery of increased striatal immunoreactivies for TNF-alpha and iNOS was observed in the lesioned group after PIP treatments. In conclusion, PIP presented a neuroprotective action, probably a consequence of its anti- inflammatory and antioxidant properties, making the drug a potential candidate for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases as PD.
