N-acetylcysteine suppresses oxidative stress in experimental rats with subarachnoid hemorrhage.
The neuroprotective effect of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a sulfhydryl-containing antioxidant, on experimentally induced subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in rats was assessed. NAC was administered to rats after the induction of SAH. Neurological deficits and brain edema were investigated. The activity of antioxidant defense enzymes, copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZn-SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), were measured in the brain cortex by spectrophotometer. The content of the lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde (MDA) was also analyzed. We found that NAC markedly reversed the SAH-induced neurological deficit and brain edema. We further investigated the mechanism involved in the neuroprotective effects of NAC on rat brain tissue and found that NAC significantly increased CuZn-SOD and GSH-Px activity and decreased MDA content in the SAH brain. NAC has the potential to be a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of SAH, and its neuroprotective effect may be partly mediated via enhancing the activity of endogenous antioxidant enzymes and inhibiting free radical generation.
Lu
Hua
H
Department of Neurosurgery, Jinling Hospital, Clinical School of Nanjing University, 305 East Zhongshan Road, Nanjing 210002, China.
Zhang
Dong-Mei
DM
Chen
Hui-Ling
HL
Lin
Yi-Xing
YX
Hang
Chun-Hua
CH
Yin
Hong-Xia
HX
Shi
Ji-Xin
JX
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001929:Brain Edema / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D002336:Carnosine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000378:metabolism; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism
D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; C033681:N-acetylcarnosine; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D002336:Carnosine; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase