Abstract
Chronic alcohol consumption causes hippocampal neuronal impairment, which is associated with oxidative stress and apoptosis. Carvacrol is a major monoterpenic phenol found in essential oils from the family Labiatae and has antioxidative stress and antiapoptosis actions. However, the protective effects of carvacrol in ethanol-induced hippocampal neuronal impairment have not been fully understood. We explored the neuroprotective effects of carvacrol in vivo and in vitro. Male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 35% ethanol for 4 weeks to establish ethanol model in vivo, and hippocampal neuron injury was simulated by 200 mM ethanol in vitro. Morris water maze test was performed to evaluate the cognitive dysfunction. The oxidative stress injury of hippocampal neurons was evaluated by measuring the levels of oxidative stress biomarkers. Histopathological examinations and western blot were performed to evaluate the apoptosis of neurons. The results showed that carvacrol attenuates the cognitive dysfunction, oxidative stress, and apoptosis of the mice treated with ethanol and decreases hippocampal neurons apoptosis induced by ethanol in vitro. In addition, western blot analysis revealed that carvacrol modulates the protein expression of Bcl-2, Bax, caspase-3, and p-ERK, without influence of p-JNK and p-p38. Our results suggest that carvacrol alleviates ethanol-mediated hippocampal neuronal impairment by antioxidative and antiapoptotic effects.
Highlights
It is well known that ethanol is a deleterious agent which can damage many organs and cause serious health problems [1,2,3,4]
Studies demonstrated that ethanol exposure reduces hippocampal volume, decreases glucose metabolism of cerebrum, and cerebral blood flow and has effects on several neurotransmitter systems that may contribute to cognitive deficits [8,9,10,11,12]
Effect of Carvacrol on Body Weight and Blood Ethanol Levels. 4 weeks after ethanol diet, mice exhibited significantly decreased body weights compared with the saline group (P < 0.05)
Summary
It is well known that ethanol is a deleterious agent which can damage many organs and cause serious health problems [1,2,3,4]. Several studies have reported that carvacrol has multiple physiological actions, including antibacterial and antifungal [25, 26], anti-inflammatory [27], and antitumor activities [28]. Aside from these above pharmacological effects, potential protective effect of carvacrol has been observed to the central nervous system diseases through diverse mechanisms, including anxiolytic effect, and inhibitory effect on acetylcholinesterase activity [29]. The present study was conducted to evaluate the neuroprotective potential of carvacrol against ethanol-mediated hippocampal neuronal impairment, as well as further explore whether neuroprotection of carvacrol was associated with antioxidation and antiapoptosis with the mitochondrial and MAPK signaling pathway involved
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