Neuroprotective potential of dietary restriction against kainate-induced excitotoxicity in adult male Wistar rats

The influence that dietary factors have on the nervous system and its susceptibility to disease, is an active area of biomedical research. Recent studies have shown that dietary restriction (DR) can have profound effect on brain function and vulnerability to injury and disease and can also enhance synaptic plasticity, which may increase the ability of brain to resist aging and restore function following injury. The dietary restriction may result in neuroprotection as suggested by marked reduction in neuronal cell death of the CA3 region of hippocampus after kainate administration in our study. We examined the effects of 3 months of DR (alternate day feeding regimen) on the antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes from different brain regions such as cerebral hemispheres, diencephalon, cerebellum and brain stem after kainate-induced excitotoxicity in adult male Wistar rats. The present study reports the beneficial effects of dietary restriction on different antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes against kainate-induced excitotoxicity in different brain regions of young adult male Wistar rats. The expression of stress response protein heat shock protein 70 (HSP 70) was also studied from discrete regions of rat brain under the same set of experimental conditions. DR significantly enhanced the expression of HSP 70 in kainic acid (KA)-treated rats, whereas KA treatment of ad libitum fed rats resulted in decreased HSP 70 expression. The DR was observed to exert neuroprotection by enhancing the expression of HSP 70 in kainic acid treated rats.