Protective effects of Herbal Compound (IM253) on the inflammatory responses and oxidative stress in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a multifactorial chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system with both immune and neurodegenerative components as the underlying causes. Cytokines are key components of the inflammatory processes and their crucial roles in the inflammatory aspect of MS are undeniable. Several studies have pointed to the apparent change in Cytokines in MS. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of IM253 treatment on inflammation and antioxidant defense in the cerebral corpus callosum of the C57BL/6 mouse, an Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model and as a most commonly used experimental model of MS. During the course of study, clinical evaluation was performed and eventually histological and molecular analysis on brain samples was carried out. Gene expression analyses demonstrated that treatment with IM253 causes a significant reduction in the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine coding genes including IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-17 as well as a significant increase in the expression of anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant enzyme coding genes including TGF-β, GPX-1, and Cat. Histological studies also show that treatment with IM253 can reduce demyelination and inflammation (p<0.001). In addition, the GPX-1 enzyme activity evaluation also demonstrated that total antioxidant capacity was significantly higher in IM253 treated mice (p<0.001). Overall, our results suggest that IM253 could ameliorate the severity of EAE, probably because of its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties, and support the preclinical effects of IM253 as a potential therapeutic intervention.