Pretreatment Effects of Eriobotrya Japonica Extraction on BDNF, SOD, and MDA Levels in Hippocampus of Parkinsonian Rats Induced by 6-hydroxydopamine Following 12 weeks of Voluntary Exercise

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of extract of Eriobotrya japonica flower on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in the hippocampus of Parkinsonian rats after 12 weeks of voluntary exercise on a running wheel. 43 rats were divided into six groups of healthy control, Parkinsonian control, training group, Parkinsonian training, extract Parkinsonian, and training-extract Parkinsonian. Training group exercised on running wheels for 12 weeks. Training-extract group exercised on running wheels and received 200 mg/kg extract of Eriobotrya japonica intraperitoneally three times per week during study period. To induce Parkinson, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) (dissolved in saline) was administered intracerebrovenricular (ICV) by a stereotaxic apparatus. BDNF level were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. SOD and MDA levels were measured using spectrophotometric method. Data was analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and least significant difference (LSD) post-hoc tests. Exercise in Parkinsonian-training and extract in Parkinsonian-extract group could not prevent decrease of BDNF and difference between healthy control and training-extract group was significant (P = 0.001). Voluntary wheel running and extract significantly prevented SOD level to decrease in Parkinsonian rats (P = 0.001). Differences of SOD level between training-extract and healthy group were not significant (P = 0.125). Training and extraction could not prevent MDA level to increase compared with healthy control group (P = 0.918). The difference of MDA level between extract-Parkinsonian and healthy group was not significant (P = 0.904). Pre-treatment with voluntary exercise and extraction of Eriobotrya japonica increase oxidative protection capacity of hippocampus against 6-OHDA toxicity but they cannot prevent significant decrease of BDNF level against 6-OHDA. Possibly, along with increase of SOD and decrease of MDA there would be no need to BDNF increase in order to counteract oxidative stress induced by exercise.