title: Quercetin improves behavioral deficiencies, restores astrocytes and microglia, and reduces serotonin metabolism in 3-nitropropionic acid-induced rat model of Huntington's Disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant disorder, for which clinically available drugs offer only symptomatic relief. These prescription drugs are not free of side effects, and the patients usually suffer from anxiety and depression. We investigated quercetin, a dietary flavonoid with free radical scavenging properties, for its beneficial potential if any, in 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP)-induced HD in rats where both drugs were administered simultaneously.
  
  
  METHODS
  Performance of rats on beam balancing, elevated plus maze and gait traits were investigated following 3-NP and/or quercetin treatments for 4 days. Striatal biogenic amine levels and monoamine oxidase activity were assayed. Striatal sections were examined for Cd11B and glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactivity, and for evidences of neuronal lesion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Quercetin significantly attenuated 3-NP-induced anxiety, motor coordination deficits, and gait despair. While the dopaminergic hyper-metabolism was unaffected, quercetin provided a significant reduction of 3-NP mediated increase in serotonin metabolism. Quercetin failed to affect 3-NP-induced striatal neuronal lesion, but decreased microglial proliferation, and increased astrocyte numbers in the lesion core.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results taken together suggest that quercetin could be of potential use not only for correcting movement disturbances and anxiety in HD, but also for addressing inflammatory damages.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Neuroscience, Division of Cell Biology and Physiology, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Joy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
authors.forename: Raghavendra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Debashis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Naskar
authors.forename: Usha
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Rajamma
authors.forename: Kochupurackal P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Mohanakumar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D017628:Microglia / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D009574:Nitro Compounds; D011422:Propionates; D011794:Quercetin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D009574:Nitro Compounds; D011422:Propionates; D012701:Serotonin; D011794:Quercetin; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase; C015392:3-nitropropionic acid; D004298:Dopamine
keywords: Depression; Gait disturbances; Glial fibrillary acidic protein; Inflammatory mediators; Serotonin metabolism; Striatal dopamine