Determination of Astrocyte Reaction Using Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) Following Aluminium Chloride Induced Hippocampus Damage of Adult Wistar Male Rats Treated with Ethanolic Extracts of Carpolobia lutea at Different Doses

Abstract

Background: Aluminium is a well-established neurotoxicant involved in the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases. Carpolobia lutea, commonly called cattle stick or poor man’s candle belongs to the plant family polygalaceae. It is a small tree native to West and Central tropical Africa and it is one of the medicinal plants that play a major role in the health care system of developing countries such as Nigeria. Aim of the Study: This study was aimed at investigating astrocyte reaction in aluminium chloride induced neurotoxicity in the hippocampus in adult male wistar rats treated with ethanolic extracts of C.lutea at different doses. Materials and Methods: Thirty wistar rats weighing 180-200 g were used for this study. The animals were randomized into five groups of six rats each. Group A rats received only animal feed. Groups B,C,D and E were given 100 mg/kg bw of aluminium chloride intraperitoneally five times a week for three weeks to induce neurotoxicity.In order to reverse the neurotoxicity,. Group C was treated with 10 mg/kg bw of donepezil as standard drug while group D and E were treated with 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg of Carpolobia lutea respectively for 14 days. Histopathological study was done on the hippocampus of the rat brain and thereafter hematoxylin and eosin staining were carried out. Immunohistochemical studies for GFAP was done using NovocasraTM Novolink TMpolymer detection system and appropriate primary monoclonal antibodies. Image J cell counter tool was used to note the number of GFAP positive cells across all groups. Results: The result from our histopatholological study shows that lower dose (200 mg/kg/bw) of ethanolic extract of the leaf of Carpolobia lutea have better protection on the cytoarchitecture of the CA1, CA3, and dentate gyrus of the hippocampus than 400 mg/kg/bw of the plant extract. From our study, it is evident that 200 mg/kg of Carpolobia lutea reduced the GFAP immunoreactivity in the hippocampus of AlCl3 induced neurotoxicity. When we compared the result of 200 mg/kg/bw of C. lutea with 10 mg/kg per body weight of donepezil (standard drug), it was observed that C. lutea had a slight reduced GFAP immunoreactivity than the standard drug(donepezil). The lower dose, 200 mg/kg of ethanolic extract of the leaf of Carpolobia lutea have a better neuroprotective benefit than the standard drug on the hippocampus Conclusion: In conlusion, 200 mg/kg of Carpolobia lutea have the tendencies of protecting the neurons in the hippocampus from degenerating as a result of aluminium chloride induced neurotoxicity compared to the standard drug (10 mg/kg donepezil).