Industrial Crops and Products 50 (2013) 625–632 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Industrial Crops and Products journal h om epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop Trichilia catigua (Catuaba) bark extract exerts neuroprotection against oxidative stress induced by different neurotoxic agents in rat hippocampal slices Jean Paul Kamdem a,e , Elekofehinti Olusola Olalekan a,f , Waseem Hassan b , Ige Joseph Kade c , Ogunbolude Yetunde c , Aline Augusti Boligon d , Margareth Linde Athayde d , Diogo Onofre Souza e , João Batista Teixeira Rocha a,∗ a Departamento de Química, Programa de Pós-Graduac ¸ ão em Bioquímica Toxicológica, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS 97105-900, Brazil b Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan c Department of Biochemistry, Federal University of Technology, Akure PMB 704, Ondo State, Nigeria d Postgraduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Federal University of Santa Maria, Campus Camobi, Santa Maria, RS 97105-900, Brazil e Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Ciências Básica da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil f Department of Biochemistry, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 24 April 2013 Received in revised form 10 July 2013 Accepted 12 July 2013 Keywords: Catuaba Hippocampal slices Oxidative damage Polyphenol Trichilia catigua a b s t r a c t Plant extracts have been reported to prevent various diseases associated with oxidative stress. Trichilia catigua, a traditional Brazilian herbal medicine, exhibits beneficial behavioral effects in experimen- tal models of neuropathologies and protects rat hippocampal slices from oxidative stress induced by ischemia-reperfusion injury. In the present study, we investigated the protective effects of T. catigua against hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 )-, sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-, and 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NPA)- induced neurotoxicity in rat hippocampal slices. Exposure of rat hippocampal slices to H 2 O 2 , SNP or 3-NPA (150–500 M) for 1 h caused significant decrease in cellular viability (evaluated by MTT reduc- tion), increased reactive oxygen/nitrogen species in the incubation medium as well as lipid peroxidation in slices homogenates. Pre-treatment of slices with T. catigua (10–100 g/mL) for 30 min significantly attenuated the toxic effects of pro-oxidants. Phytochemical profile of T. catigua determined by high perfor- mance liquid chromatography (HPLC-DAD) indicated the presence of phenolic and flavonoid compounds. These antioxidant compounds can be involved in T. catigua neuroprotective effects. Consequently, T. catigua antioxidative properties may be useful in the prevention of cellular damage triggered by oxidative stress found in acute and chronic neuropathological situations. © 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. 1. Introduction Oxidative stress is an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) and endogenous antioxidants defenses. It has been implicated in the pathophys- iology of several neurodegenerative disorders (ex. Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and ischemia-reperfusion) (Emerit et al., 2004; Qureshi et al., 2004; Mariani et al., 2005; Reynolds et al., 2007; Tsang and Chung, 2009; Melo et al., 2011), which can be associated with progressive loss of neurons, and cognitive performance (Coyle and Puttfarcken, 1993; Olanow, 1993; Sen and Chakraborty, 2011). Different mechanisms have been implicated in the pathogenesis ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 55 3220 9462. E-mail addresses: jbtrocha@gmail.com, jbtrocha@yahoo.com.br (J.B.T. Rocha). of these diseases such as “mitochondrial oxidative stress” and “inflammatory oxidative conditions” (Hirsch et al., 2005; Trushina and McMurray, 2007; Amor et al., 2010; Taylor et al., 2013). Hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and 3- nitropropionic acid (3-NPA) are extensively used in the literature to trigger oxidative stress (Zhang and Zhao, 2003; Ou et al., 2010; Túnez et al., 2010; Sani et al., 2011). H 2 O 2 is a highly diffusible ROS molecule formed during normal metabolism. In the presence of transition metals such as iron (II), H 2 O 2 can be transformed into hydroxyl radicals, which initiates oxidative damage. SNP can cause oxidative stress and cytotoxicity either by releasing cyanide, iron and nitric oxide (NO) which can generate peroxynitrite rad- ical (Boullerne et al., 1999; Broderick et al., 2007; Cardaci et al., 2008). Peroxynitrite can cause protein nitration and together with iron trigger lipid peroxidation (Ischiropoulos et al., 1992). 3-NPA, a rarely distributed plant and fungal neurotoxin, is an irreversible inhibitor of the mitochondrial complex II succinate dehydrogenase 0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2013.07.033