Ola Ahmed Heikal
German University in Cairo, Egypt
National Research Center, Egypt
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Neurochem Neuropharm
It is estimated that more than 500000 tons of rice bran is produced in Egypt every year. Though its nutritional values and potential health benefits, it is used, due to its instability, as animal feed rather high value functional food and/or high value added nutraceutical. A number of papers were published showing, the stabilized rice bran extract, potential health benefits in some diseases like Alzheimerâ��s disease. The product is registered (Oryza), another one under registration at the Egyptian Ministry of Health (Riciplex). A functional food against Alzheimer is currently developed in Germany, based on the stabilized Egyptian rice bran supplied. In the present study the effects of RBE were examined in comparison to a well-known PPAR�³ agonist pioglitazone. RBE administration significantly improved the spatial working and reference memory in addition to non-spatial recognition memory in the LPS mouse model as shown by object recognition test, y-maze and water maze test. Pioglitazone improved memory, in the Y-maze and object recognition test with no effect in the water maze test. Interestingly, the effect of RBE on memory was abolished in the group injected with PPAR�³- antagonist before RBE treatment, indicating the important role of PPAR�³ in the mechanism of action of RBE. Furthermore, the RBE -PPAR�³ DNA binding activity was measured in the brain extract samples of the mouse treated groups using transcription factor assay kit. Results showed a significant increase in PPAR�³ binding to PPRE with RBE treatment and this effect was reversed upon PPAR�³ antagonist injection before RBE treatment. These findings demonstrate that the involvement of RBE in the beneficial effects on cognitive performance is correlated with its action on PPAR�³ modulation, providing novel insight into its neuroprotective role in AD.
Email: ola.heikal@guc.edu.eg
