The present study aimed to investigate the effects of hesperetin and nano-hesperetin on neurobehavioral activity and superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GRx) and catalase (CAT) enzymes activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) levels in hippocampal area of rats in an experimental model of AD.
Activities of copper/zinc-dependent superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione-disulfide reductase (GR) were elevated in AD samples compared to controls.
Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis of the expression of key glutathione redox system genes demonstrated the induction of glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase messages in the AD hippocampus.
The levels of peroxidation handling (CAT, GSHPx, and GSSG-R) mRNAs normalized to beta-actin mRNA level were elevated in hippocampus and inferior parietal lobule, but not in cerebellum of AD patients, which may reflect the protective gene response to the increased peroxidation in the brain regions showing severe AD pathology.