TY - JOUR PY - 2015// TI - Neuroprotective potential of escitalopram against behavioral, mitochondrial and oxidative dysfunction induced by 3-nitropropionic acid JO - Annals of neurosciences A1 - Shetty, S. A1 - Hariharan, A. A1 - Shirole, T. A1 - Jagtap, A.G. SP - 11 EP - 18 VL - 22 IS - 1 N2 - BACKGROUND: Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative syndrome that leads to marked decline in cognitive functioning along with uncharacteristic body movements called chorea. There exists no therapeutic agent to address the disease.3-Nitropropionic acid (3-NP) which is a suicide inhibitor of succinate dehydrogenase and a well-known experimental model to study Huntington's disease, causes substantial impairment in gait and memory through oxidative and neuronal damage.

PURPOSE: In the present study protective effect of escitalopram against 3-NP induced neurotoxicity was explored.

METHODS: Adult female Wistar ratswere subjected to per oral administration of 2 different doses of escitalopram (10 and 20 mg/kg) for 12 days followed by intraperitoneal injection of 3-NP (20 mg/kg) on the last four days.

RESULTS: Intraperitoneal injection of 3-NP lead to significant induction of HD like symptoms in rats such as impaired memory, reduced locomotor activity, hind limb impairment, decreased body weight, oxidative damage and mitochondrial dysfunction. Treatment with 2 different dose of escitalopram helped reverse the mitochondrial enzyme dysfunction along with reversal of behavioural and biochemical anomaly induced by 3-NP. Further, histopathological examination confirmed the neuroprotective potential of escitalopram against 3-NP induced pathological lesions.

CONCLUSION: The results obtained thus substantiate the claim that escitalopram might play an antioxidant and neuroprotective role against 3-NP induced alterations in rats and can prove to be a promising candidate for the management of HD. © 2015, Indian Academy of Neurosciences. All rights reserved.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0972-7531 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.5214/ans.0972.7531.220104 ID - ref1 ER -