title: Quetiapine mitigates the ethanol-induced oxidative stress in brain tissue, but not in the liver, of the rat.
abstract: Quetiapine, an atypical antipsychotic, has been employed to treat alcoholic patients with comorbid psychopathology. It was shown to scavenge hydroxyl radicals and to protect cultured cells from noxious effects of oxidative stress, a pathophysiological mechanism involved in the toxicity of alcohol. This study compared the redox status of the liver and the brain regions of prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum of rats treated with or without ethanol and quetiapine. Ethanol administration for 1 week induced oxidative stress in the liver and decreased the activity of glutathione peroxidase and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) there. Coadministration of quetiapine did not protect glutathione peroxidase and TAC in the liver against the noxious effect of ethanol, thus was unable to mitigate the ethanol-induced oxidative stress there. The ethanol-induced alteration in the redox status in the prefrontal cortex is mild, whereas the hippocampus and cerebellum are more susceptible to ethanol intoxication. For all the examined brain regions, coadministration of quetiapine exerted effective protection on the antioxidants catalase and total superoxide dismutase and on the TAC, thus completely blocking the ethanol-induced oxidative stress in these brain regions. These protective effects may explain the clinical observations that quetiapine reduced psychiatric symptoms intensity and maintained a good level of tolerability in chronic alcoholism with comorbid psychopathology.
authors.affiliation: The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Henan, People's Republic of China ; School of Basic Medicine, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jin-Hong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: School of Basic Medicine, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hong-Zhao
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Henan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yang-Yang
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Lian
authors.affiliation: The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Henan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: School of Basic Medicine, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Cheng-Biao
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: Xin-Min
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Henan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Rui-Ling
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Haiyun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: antioxidant; ethanol; oxidative stress; quetiapine