EFFECT OF HESPERIDIN SUPPLEMENTED DIETS ON BEHAVIOURAL AND NEUROCHEMICAL INDICES IN LOBSTER COCKROACH (Nauphoeta cinerea) MODEL OF ALUMINIUM TOXICITY

Abstract

The evidence of problems resulting to neurodegenerative diseases stimulated neuroscientists to investigate and develop therapeutic interventions for the sake of prevention and treatment of this disease using alternatives to mammalian model with invertebrates being the most promising. Various biological and pharmacological effects have been reported for hesperidin. It possesses the anti-oxidant, anti- inflammatory, and anti-carcinogenic activities. This study sought to determine the effect of dietary hesperidin supplementation on Nauphoeta cinerea model of aluminium-induced neurotoxocity. Cockroach nymphs were divided into four groups of 30 insects each. Group I was fed basal diet; group II was fed diet supplemented with 0.1% AlCl 3; group III was fed diet supplemented with 0.1% AlCl 3 and 0.1% hesperidin while group IV was fed diet supplemented with 0.1% hesperidin only. After 35 days, lethality response, locomotor and behavioral assay was carried out. The insects were anesthetized on ice, the head rapidly dissected and homogenized for biochemical assays which includes reactive oxygen species (ROS), TBARS, nitric oxide, reduced glutathione and Total thiol levels as well as phenol oxidase, GST, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and monoamine oxidase (MAO) activities. The results revealed that AlCl 3 supplemented diet induced neurobehavioural and neurochemical alterations which was ameliorated by diet supplemented with hesperidin as evident by significant improvement in behaviour and antioxidant status, reduced AChE and MAO activities, increased L-DOPA and GSH content as well as increased phenoloxidase and glutathione transferase activities in the treated insects when compared to the untreated ones. The result reported for the first time the neuroprotective effect of hesperidin against AlCl 3 - induced neurotoxicity in Lobster cockroaches thus, proposing this invertebrate as a viable alternative model for the study of aluminium-induced neurotoxicity.