title: Apomorphine attenuates ethanol-induced neurodegeneration in the adult rat cortex.
abstract: Apomorphine, therapeutically used for Parkinson's disease, is a dopamine D1/D2 receptor agonist that has been determined to be a potent antioxidant and to prevent the reaction of free radicals in the brain. Alcohol is a neurotoxic agent that induces neurodegeneration possibly through the generation of free radicals. In this study, we investigated the antioxidant potential of apomorphine upon ethanol-induced neurodegeneration in the cortex of adult rats. Ethanol-induced apoptotic neurodegeneration was measured via the suppression of Bcl-2, the induction of Bax, the release of cytochrome C and the activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3. Moreover, ethanol-induced elevated levels of cleaved PARP-1 indicated exaggerated neuronal DNA damage. Our results demonstrated the neuroprotective effect of apomorphine by reversing the ethanol-induced apoptotic trend as observed by the increased expression of Bcl-2, down regulation of Bax, inhibition of mitochondrial cytochrome C release and inhibition of activated caspase-9 and caspase-3. Moreover, apomorphine treatment further decreased the expression of cleaved PARP-1 to reveal a reduction in ethanol-induced neuronal damage. Immunohistochemical analysis and Nissl staining also revealed neuroprotective effect of apomorphine after ethanol-induced neuronal cell death. In this study, our results indicated that apomorphine at doses of 1 and 5mg/kg has neuroprotective effects for ethanol-induced neuronal damage. Finally, we can conclude that apomorphine has effective therapeutic potential to protect the brain against ethanol-induced neurotoxicity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences (RINS) and Applied Life Science (BK21 plus), Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Haroon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Badshah
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences (RINS) and Applied Life Science (BK21 plus), Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Tae Hyun
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences (RINS) and Applied Life Science (BK21 plus), Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Min Ju
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences (RINS) and Applied Life Science (BK21 plus), Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ashfaq
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences (RINS) and Applied Life Science (BK21 plus), Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Tahir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences (RINS) and Applied Life Science (BK21 plus), Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Gwang Ho
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine and Research (CEGMR), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Muhammad Imran
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Naseer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences (RINS) and Applied Life Science (BK21 plus), Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: mokim@gsnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Myeong Ok
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001058:Apomorphine / Q000633:toxicity*; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D053453:Caspase 9 / Q000378:metabolism; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004249:DNA Damage; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D000071137:Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1; D011065:Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases / Q000378:metabolism; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D000431:Ethanol; C499322:Parp1 protein, rat; D000071137:Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1; D011065:Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases; D053148:Caspase 3; D053453:Caspase 9; D001058:Apomorphine
keywords: Apomorphine; Apoptosis; Ethanol; Neurodegeneration; Neuroprotection