Affiliations: Laboratory of Radiation Biology, Graduate School of
Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Mikinori Kuwabara, PhD, Laboratory
of Radiation Biology, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido
University, N-18, W-9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan. Tel.: +81 11 706 5235;
Fax: +81 11 706 7373; E-mail: kuwabara@vetmed.hokudai.ac.jp
Abstract: Oxidative damage due to ischemia/reperfusion has been implicated as
one of the leading causes for delayed neuronal cell death in a number of
neurodegenerative diseases, including stroke. The purpose of this research was
to investigate whether oral administration of a fermented grain food mixture
(AOB®) might offer protective effects
against ischemia/reperfusion-induced neuronal damage in Mongolian gerbils, a
model known for delayed neuronal death in the hippocampal CA1 region.
Histological analysis revealed that AOB administration ad libitum for 3
weeks (preoperative administration) and 1 week (postoperative administration)
dose-dependently suppressed the induction of transient
ischemia/reperfusion-induced neuronal cell death. TUNEL assay also revealed
that AOB suppressed it by inhibiting the induction of apoptosis. A significant
increase of superoxide dismutase-like (SOD-like) activity was observed in the
hippocampal CA1 region of the AOB-treated gerbil. Furthermore, immunoblot
analysis showed that AOB administration down-regulated the expression of heat
shock proteins HSP27 and HSP70 in the same region. These results indicated that
oral administration of AOB protected against ischemia/reperfusion-induced brain
injury by minimizing oxidative damage via its SOD-like activity and inhibiting
apoptosis.
