Kouichi Abe

COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT OF RATS CAUSED BY OXIDATIVE STRESS AND AGING, AND ITS PREVENTION BY VITAMIN E.

In order to verify whether brain damage caused by chronic oxidative stress induces the impairment of cognitive function, the ability of learning and memory was assessed using the water maze and the eight‐arm radial maze tasks. Young rats showed significantly greater learning ability before the stress than the old and vitamin E‐deficient rats. At five days after subjection to oxidative stress, the memory function of the young declined toward the level of that in the aged rats maintained under normal condition. This phenomenon is supported by the findings that the delayed‐type apoptosis appeared in the CA1 region of the hippocampus of the young at five to seven days after the stress. Vitamin E supplementation to the young accelerated significantly their learning functions before the stress and prevented the deficit of memory caused by the stress. When rats were subjected to stress, thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substance (TBARS), lipid hydroperoxides, and protein carbonyls were significantly increased in synaptic plasma membranes. It was found that ζ‐potential of the synaptic membrane surface was remarkably decreased. These phenomena were also observed in the aged and vitamin E‐deficient rats maintained under normal condition. These results suggest that oxidative damage to the rat synapse in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus during aging may contribute to the deficit of cognitive functions.

Extracellular accumulation of glutamate in the hippocampus induced by ischemia is not calcium dependent — In vitro and in vivo evidence

Calcium dependency of ischemia-induced increase in extracellular glutamate in the hippocampus was studied in vitro and in vivo. Perfusion of a low pO2 medium without glucose (in vitro ischemia) induced an increase in extracellular glutamate in rat hippocampal slices. This increase did not depend on Ca2+, which is in contrast with the observation that about 40% of membrane depolarization (50 mM KCl)-evoked release was Ca2+-dependent. In vivo cerebral ischemia of 5 min duration in gerbils also caused Ca2+-independent increase in extracellular glutamate in the hippocampus. The data suggest that the increase in extracellular glutamate induced by ischemia is not due to the enhanced release of neurotransmitter glutamate.

Appearance of amyloid β-like substances and delayed-type apoptosis in rat hippocampus CA1 region through aging and oxidative stress

To elucidate whether oxidative stress induces cognitive deficit, and whether nerve cells in the hippocampus, which modulates learning and memory functions in the brain, are damaged by oxidative stress and during aging, the influence of hyperoxia as oxidative stress on either the cognitive function of rats or the oxidative damage of nerve cells was investigated. Young rats showed better learning ability than both old rats and vitamin E-deficient young rats. Vitamin E- supplemented young rats showed similar ability to young control rats. After they learned the location of the platform in the Morris water maze test, the young rats and vitamin E-supplemented young rats were subjected to oxidative stress for 48 h, and the old rats and vitamin E-deficient young rats were kept in normal atmosphere. The memory function of the old rats and vitamin E-deficient young rats declined even when they were not subjected to oxidative stress for 48 h. In contrast, the young rats maintained their memory function for 4 days after the oxidative stress. However, their learning abilities suddenly declined toward that of the normal old rats after 5 days. At this point, nerve cell loss and apoptosis were observed in the hippocampal CA 1 region of young rats. Vitamin E-supplementation in the young rats prevented either memory deficit or the induction of delayed-type apoptosis. The old rats and vitamin E-deficient young rats kept in normal atmosphere for 48 h also showed apoptosis in the hippocampus. Also, 10 days after oxidative stress, amyloid beta-like substances appeared in the CA-1 region of control young rats; these substances were also observed in the CA-1 region of the old rats and vitamin E- deficient young rats. These results suggest that reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by oxidative stress induced amyloid beta-like substances and delayed-type apoptosis in the rat hippocampus, resulting in cognitive deficit. Since amyloid beta in Alzheimers disease characterized by cognitive deficit induces neuronal cell death, it is reasonable to consider that amyloid beta deposition in the brain may be associated with memory dysfunction. The results of this study imply that age-related hippocampal neuronal damage is prevented by vitamin E supplementation due to the antioxidant effect of vitamin E.

Simultaneous determination of ubiquinone-10 and ubiquinol-10 in tissues and mitochondria by high performance liquid chromatography

Abstract A method of high performance liquid chromatography with both of a UV detector and an electrochemical detector for the simultaneous determination of ubiquinone and ubiquinol was established. This method could sensitively and specifically measure the redox state of ubiquinone in mitochondria and tissues.

Oxidative damage of rat cerebral cortex and hippocampus, and changes in antioxidative defense systems caused by hyperoxia.

In order to elucidate the oxidative damage in rat brain caused by oxidative stress, regional changes in the levels of lipid peroxidation products and antioxidative defense systems in cerebral cortex and hippocampus, and in their synapses, which modulate learning and memory functions in the brain, were studied. When rats were subjected to hyperoxia as an oxidative stress, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) in the regions studied increased more than in normal rats by approximately 35%. The values in oxygen-unexposed vitamin E-deficient rats were also higher than in normal rats. It was found that the TBARS contents in synaptosomes isolated from both regions were remarkably higher than in the organs. These results imply that synapses are more susceptible to oxidative stress than the organ itself. This tendency was also observed in the content of conjugated diene. In response to oxidative stress, the status of the antioxidant defense system in each region, i.e. the concentration of vitamin E, and the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase, decreased remarkably. On the other hand, in oxygen-unexposed vitamin E-deficient rats, the activities of these enzymes in each region tended to increase, except for catalase activity. These results suggest that in response to the oxidative stress, the antioxidant defense systems may be consumed to prevent oxidative damage, and then, may be supplied through the antioxidant network.

Supercritical fluid chromatographic determination of tocopherols on an ODS-silica gel column

Abstract A method for the supercritical fluid chromatographic (SFC) determination of tocopherots in vegetable oils was investigated using an ODS-silica gel column with carbon dioxide as the mobile phase. The retention of tocopherols was affected by the density of the mobile phase and the addition of methanol as a modifier. The addition of small concentrations of methanol produced a satisfactory separation of tocopherol homologues, including the positional isomers β- and γ-tocopherol. The results of the determination of tocopherols in vegetable oils by SFC were in satisfactory agreement with those obtained by normal-phase HPLC.

Oxidized Proteins in Astrocytes Generated in a Hyperbaric Atmosphere Induce Neuronal Apoptosis

In the present study, we investigated the influence of the oxidative damage to astrocytes on neuronal cell survival using cultures of rat cerebral astrocytes and neurons. The exposure of astrocytes to hyperbaric oxygen induced a time-dependent apoptotic cell death, as observed by DNA ladder assessment. When astrocytes damaged by oxidative stress were cocultured with normal neurons from the cerebrum of a newborn rat, neuronal cell death was markedly induced, although normal astrocytes not subjected to hyperoxia cocultured with normal neurons showed no neuronal cell apoptosis. It was found that either the supernatant from the homogenate of astrocytes cultured in hyperbaric oxygen atmosphere or a protein mixture extracted from the supernatant induced neuronal cell death. The level of protein carbonyls, an index of protein oxidation analysis, in cultured astrocytes increased significantly with oxidative stress, and vitamin E inhibited the increase in the level of such oxidized proteins in astrocytes. Furthermore, a two-dimensional (2D) electrophoresis of a protein mixture extracted from the supernatant showed several changes in proteins. These results imply that reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by oxidative stress attack astrocytes to induce oxidatively denatured proteins in the cells that act as a neurotoxic factor, and that vitamin E protects neurons by inhibiting astrocyte apoptosis caused by oxidative stress.

Elevation by oxidative stress and aging of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity in rats and its prevention by vitamin E.

The present study was conducted in order to determine whether oxidative stress during aging involves dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in association with the emergence of cognitive deficits. When young rats were subjected to oxidative stress in the form of hyperoxia, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, conjugated diene and lipid hydroperoxides increased markedly in the HPA axis. Vitamin E inhibited such increases in lipid peroxides in each organ. Levels of corticotrophin-releasing hormone in the hypothalamus and plasma levels of adrenocorticotrophic hormone and corticosterone were markedly elevated in young rats exposed to hyperoxia. However, young rats fed vitamin E-supplemented diets showed no abnormal hormone secretion, even after being subjected to hyperoxia. Furthermore, glucocorticosteroid receptors (GR) in pyramidal cells in the Cornus ammonis 1 region of the hippocampus in young rats were markedly decreased by oxidative stress. Similar phenomena were also observed in normal aged rats and young rats fed vitamin E-deficient diet kept in a normal atmosphere. Vitamin E supplementation prevented the decrease in GR in the hippocampus and the increase in corticosterone secretion caused by hyperoxia. These results suggest that oxidative stress induces oxidative damage in the hippocampus and the HPA axis during aging, resulting in a cognitive deficit in rats, and that negative-feedback inhibition on HPA activity was markedly dampened due to an increase in corticosterone levels caused by loss of GR.

Kinetic Study of the Aroxyl Radical-Scavenging Reaction of α-Tocopherol in Methanol Solution: Notable Effect of the Alkali and Alkaline Earth Metal Salts on the Reaction Rates

A kinetic study of the aroxyl (ArO*) radical-scavenging reaction of alpha-tocopherol (alpha-TocH) has been performed in the presence of six kinds of alkali and alkaline earth metal salts (LiI, LiClO(4), NaI, NaClO(4), KI, and Mg(ClO(4))(2)) in methanol solution, using stopped-flow spectrophotometry. The decay rate of the ArO* for the reaction of alpha-TocH with ArO* increased linearly with increasing concentration of metal salts. The second-order rate constants (k(s)) for the reaction of alpha-TocH with ArO* increased in the order of no metal salt < KI approximately NaClO(4) approximately NaI <or= LiClO(4) < Mg(ClO(4))(2) < LiI at the same concentration of metal salts. For example, the k(s) values in methanol solution including 4.00 x 10(-1) M of LiI and Mg(ClO(4))(2) were 3.04 and 1.30 times larger than that in the absence of metal salts, respectively. The alkali and alkaline earth metal salts having smaller ionic radius of cation and anion and larger charge of cation gave larger rate constants (k(s)). Effects of metal cations on the UV-vis absorption spectra of the alpha-Toc* (and ArO*) radical were negligible in methanol solution, suggesting that the complex formation between the alpha-Toc* (and ArO*) radical molecule and metal cations is hindered by the hydrogen bond between radical and methanol molecules. The results indicate that the hydrogen transfer reaction of alpha-TocH proceeds via an electron transfer intermediate from alpha-TocH to ArO* radicals followed by proton transfer. Both the coordinations of metal cations to the one-electron reduced anions of ArO* (ArO: (-)) and of counteranions to the one-electron oxidized cations of alpha-TocH (alpha-TocH(+)*) may stabilize the intermediate, resulting in the acceleration of electron transfer. On the other hand, the effect of metal salts on the rate of bimolecular self-reaction (2k(d)) of the alpha-Toc* radical was not observed. The result suggests that the hydrogen transfer reaction between two alpha-Toc* radical molecules proceeds via a one-step hydrogen atom transfer mechanism rather than via an electron-transfer intermediate. High concentrations of alkali and alkaline earth metal salts coexist with alpha-TocH in plasma, blood, and many tissues, suggesting the contribution of the metal salts to the antioxidant actions of alpha-TocH.

Development of the vitamin A-storing cell in mouse liver during late fetal and neonatal periods

SummaryVitanim A-storing cells in perinatal mouse liver were studied by chemical and autoradiographic analyses of exogenous vitanim A. The amount of retinyl palmitate in the fetal liver increased significantly following oral administration of retinyl acetate to the mother, suggesting the existence of storage sites of the vitanim in fetal liver. Light microscope semi-serial autoradiography of the fetal liver on the 15th day of gestation showed that 3H-vitamin A administered to the mother was incorporated into cells distributed exclusively along the hepatic blood vessels and the blood islands. Mitotic figures of the labeled cells were frequently observed. Electron microscope autoradiography revealed that the vitamin was incorporated into lipid droplets, rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus of the fibroblast-like cells in close apposition to the endothelial cells. The labeled cells differed in their ultrastructure from the vitamin A-storing cells (Ito cells) of the adult liver. In the later gestational period, silver grains tended to be more concentrated in lipid droplets, and the cytological features of the labeled cells became similar to those of the vitamin A-storing cells. Both retinyl palmitate content and the labeling of lipid droplets increased rapidly in the liver of neonates after commencement of suckling. The labeled cells had the same appearance as the vitamin A-storing cells (Ito cells). It is concluded that vitamin A transported across the placenta is taken up in the fetal liver by the cells distributed along the blood vessels, and that these cells proliferate in accordance with vascular development and gradually take on the characteristics of vitamin A-storing cells during the perinatal period. A defensive role of the vitamin A-storing cell against the toxic effects of vitamin A is also suggested.