Chemicals
ACR and curcumin were respectively purchased from Amresco Co. (Solon, OH, USA) and Sigma chemicals Co.(St. Louis, MO, USA).
Experimental design
Male Sprague-Dawley rats, weighing 200–220 g, were obtained from Hubei Experimental Animal Research Center (Hubei, China). Rats were housed in standard translucent cages (5 animals/cage) under controlled standard conditions (23 ± 2 °C, 55 ± 5% relative humidity, 12 h light/dark cycle) with restricted access to standard rat chow and free access to tap water. After a 1-week acclimation period, all animals were randomly divided into 5 groups of 10 rats in each group: (1) normal control group; (2) ACR- intoxicated control group; (3) low-dose (50mg/kg) curcumin treatment group and (4) high-dose (100 mg/kg) curcumin treatment group. Animals in 2–4 groups were intraperitoneally injected with ACR dissolved in normal saline at the dose of 40 mg/kg every other day for 4 weeks.The normal rats received saline as control. Meanwhile, rats in the curcumin treatment groups were daily administered with curcumin at the corresponding oral administration dose for 4 weeks. The normal and ACR-intoxicated control animals were orally administered with the same volume of distilled water. Body weight and behavioral alterations were monitored once a week. At 24 h after the last administration, all animals were euthanized by CO2 asphyxiation, brain tissues were quickly collected.
Behavioral tests
All rats were subjected to behavioral analysis to assess their motor functions.
In the hind limb splay examination [3,5], landing foot spread distance was measured as follow: the hind paws of rats were inked, then the rats were placed in a horizontal position of 30 cm high and dropped onto a white paper. The distance between the center points of right and left heels were recorded.
In the movement initiation test [5, 24], the rat was held by its hind limbs and its torso, one forelimb was lifted above a table in order that the body weight was supported by the other forelimb alone. Then, rat was allowed to initiate stepping movements for one forelimb, and then the other. The averaged time period to initiate one step was recorded as the response latency for each forelimb.
In the gait score test [3,5], animals were placed on the table and were observed for 3 min. Gait was scored as follow: 1: normal gait; 2, slightly abnormal gait characterized by slight ataxia, weakness and foot splay; 3, moderately abnormal gait characterized by obvious ataxia and foot splay with limb spread during ambulation; 4, severely abnormal gait characterized by a combination of all the above symptoms,dragging hind limbs and inability to support body weight.
Histopathological analysis
The collected brain tissues were fixed with 10% neutral-buffered formalin, subsequently dehydrated and embedded in paraffin. Then, paraffin-embedded brain sections of 5-μm thickness were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) to observe the histopathological changes. The histopathological changes incerebral cortex, hippocampal CA1, CA3, and dentate gyrus regions were analyzed.
TUNEL assay
The apoptotic neurons in the brain sections were detected using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) assay following the instruction manual of TUNEL Apoptosis Assay Kit (Servicebio, Wuhan, China) .
Real-time PCR
The expression levels of TERT mRNA in cerebral Cortex were measured by real-time PCR using all-in-OneTM qPCR master mix AOPR–1200 (GeneCopoeia, Rockville, MD). The sequences of primer sets for TERT were 5’-TGTTCCTGTTCTGGCTAATGG- 3’(forward) and 5’-CCTCTTGTGACAGTTCCCGT–3’ (reverse). β-actin gene was applied as a reference.
Immunohistochemistry
Paraffin-embedded brain sections of 5-μm thickness were incubated with a rabbit anti-TERT antibody (Servicebio, Wuhan, China), then a biotinylated goat anti-rabbit secondary antibody (Servicebio, Wuhan, China). Immune complexes were visualized using 3,3’-diaminobenzidine tetrachloride (DAB). Then, sections were counter-stained with hematoxylin.
Measurement of parameters related to oxidative stress in cerebral homogenates
The brain tissue homogenates were made by homogenizing each cerebral cortex tissue with 9 times volume of PBS on ice, then centrifuging. The contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) as well as the activities of SOD and GSH-Px in the cerebral homogenates were measured according to their respective manufacturer’s instructions (Nanjing Jiancheng Bio-Engineering Co., Ltd., Nanjing, China). The protein contents in cerebral homogenates were detected using the bicinchoninic acid assay kit (Nanjing Jiancheng Bio-Engineering Co., Ltd., Nanjing, China).
Measurement of IL–1β and TNF-ɑ levels in cerebral homogenates
The concentrations of IL–1β and TNF-ɑ in cerebral homogenates were determined using using ELISA kits according to the manufacturer’s instructions (IL–1β: PeproTech Inc., NJ, USA ; TNF-ɑ: R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN, USA).
Statistical analysis
All data were expressed as the mean ± SD, and analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post hoc Tukey test by SPSS 22.0 software. P < 0.05 or P < 0.01 was considered statistically significant.