Oxidative stress evoked damages leading to attenuated memory and inhibition of NMDAR–CaMKII–ERK/CREB signalling on consumption of aspartame in rat model

Publication date: April 2018Source: Journal of Food and Drug Analysis, Volume 26, Issue 2Author(s): Ashok Iyaswamy, Ananth Kumar Kammella, Citarasu Thavasimuthu, W.har W.upar, W.har Dapkupar, Sambantham Shanmugam, Ravindran Rajan, Sheeladevi RathinasamyAbstractMany controversial reports are available on the use of aspartame as it releases methanol as one of its metabolite during metabolism. The present study proposes to investigate whether long term (90 days) aspartame (40 mg/kg b.wt) administration could induce oxidative stress and alter the memory in Wistar strain male albino rats. To mimic the human methanol metabolism, methotrexate (MTX)-treated rats were included as a model to study the effects of aspartame. Wistar strain albino rats were administered with aspartame (40 mg/kg b.wt) orally and studied along with controls and MTX-treated controls. Aspartame interfered in the body weight and corticosterone levels in the rats. A marked increase in the mRNA and protein expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and induced nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) which resulted in the increased nitric oxide radical's level indicating that aspartame is a stressor. These reactive nitrogen species could be responsible for the altered cell membrane integrity and even cause death of neurons by necrosis or apoptosis. The animals showed a marked decrease in learning, spatial working and spatial recognition memory deficit in the Morris water maze and Y-maze performance task which coul...
Source: Journal of Food and Drug Analysis - Category: Food Science Source Type: research