Protective effect of edaravone against degeneration of rat substantia nigral dopaminergic neurons induced by lipopolysaccharide

Objective To explore the effect of the radical scavenger edaravone on degeneration of dopaminergic neurons induced by lipopolysaccharide(LPS). Methods Eighteen female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups:PBS control group,physiologic saline +LPS group(saline treated group) and edaravone +LPS group(edaravone treated group). At 14d after intranigral injection of 15μg(2μl)LPS or PBS ,the number of tyrosine hydroxylase(TH) positive neurons and the morphological changes of OX-42 positive microglias in the substantia nigra(SN) were observed by immunohistochemistry. Results Compared with PBS control group,TH-positived neurons in SN on the LPS-injected side reduced to 16% of the non LPS-injected side in saline treated group(P0.05),accompanied with marked loss of their dendrites;Compared with saline treated group,59% TH-positived neirons survived in the animals treated with edaravone(P0.05) and the dendritic processes surrounding the TH-positive neurons were partly preserved.The morphology of microglial were similar in saline and edaravone treaded animals. Conclusion Edaravone attenuates LPS-induced degeneration of rat substantia nigral dopaminergic neurons.