Preventive effects of soy meal (+/- isoflavone) on spatial cognitive deficiency and body weight in an ovariectomized animal model of Parkinson's disease

• Published in: Pakistan journal of biological sciences 2009-10, Vol.12 (20), p.1338-1345
• Main Authors: Sarkaki, A, Badavi, M, Aligholi, H, Moghaddam, A Zand
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Body Weight - drug effects; Cognition Disorders - pathology; Cognition Disorders - prevention & control; Disease Models, Animal; Escape Reaction; Estrogens - blood; Female; Isoflavones - therapeutic use; Maze Learning - drug effects; Ovariectomy; Parkinsonian Disorders - drug therapy; Parkinsonian Disorders - pathology; Parkinsonian Disorders - psychology; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Reaction Time; Soybean Proteins; Substantia Nigra - pathology; Swimming
• ISSN: 1028-8880
• DOI: 10.3923/pjbs.2009.1338.1345

The aim of the present study was to investigate the preventive effect of 4 weeks soy meal (+/- isoflavone) on post-menopausal cognitive deficiency and body weight alteration in ovariectomized (OVX)-6-hydroxy dopamine (6-OHDA)-induced animal model of Parkinson's Disease (PD) which mimics status in menopause women. Female Wistar rats (250-300 g, 5-6 months old) were divided into 2 main groups. (1) Control; (2) OVX; included 5 subgroups that were pre-treated with 10 or 20 g soy with isoflavone in 30 g daily diet (10 and 20 groups, respectively), 10 or 20 g soy without isoflavone in 30 g daily diet (-10 and -20 groups, respectively) and 0 g soy (sham treated group) during 4 weeks after OVX. To induce animal model ofPD in main second group (OVX rats) the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) was lesioned by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) (8 microg kg(-1) 4 microL(-1) normal saline contains 0.1% ascorbate). All animals were trained in Morris water maze for evaluating the spatial learning and memory. The results indicated that pre-treatment of Parkinsonian rats with different doses of dietary soy meal (+/- isoflavone) improved the spatial learning and memory and prevents increasing the body weight after menopause significantly. Our data show that, long-duration dietary soy meal may have the potential neuroprotective effect against post-menopausal cognitive deficiency induced by degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic system and constant body weight during post-menopausal life cycle.