Research Article Antioxidant Formulae, Shengmai San, and LingGuiZhuGanTang, Prevent MPTP Induced Brain Dysfunction and Oxidative Damage in Mice

Copyright © 2015 Vijayasree Vayalanellore Giridharan et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The present study was designed to evaluate the preventive effect of antioxidative traditional oriental medicine formulae, Shengmai San (SMS) and LingGuiZhuGanTang (LGZGT), against 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) (i.p 30mg⋅kg−1 for 5 consecutive days) induced neurotoxicity. In in vitro antioxidant assaysmeasuredwith Trolox and butyl hydroxyl toluene as reference antioxidant revealed that SMS has higher scavenging potential against hydroxyl radical than superoxide anion radical, but LGZGT was the reverse.Theneuroprotective effect of SMS and LGZGTagainstMPTPwas evaluated inmice by behavioral, biochemical, and immunohistochemical studies. In the behavioral study, both SMS and LGZGT significantly reversed the locomotive impairment induced by MPTP. Simultaneously, both formulae significantly prevented the MPTP induced dopaminergic neuron loss assessed by tyrosine hydroxylase in themidbrain. Both SMS and LGZGT significantly attenuated the elevated lipid peroxidation and protein carbonyls levels byMPTP.TheDNA damage induced byMPTPwas also prevented by both formulae. Although a little difference in the protective functionswas observed between the two formulae, such as inDNAdamage and behavioral studies, the results indicate that both SMS and LGZGT with antioxidant property act as a good candidate applicable for the antioxidant based complementar