Publication: Young coconut juice significantly reduces histopathological changes in the brain that is induced by hormonal imbalance: A possible implication to postmenopausal women
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Date
2009
Authors
Radenahmad, Nisaudah ; Saleh, Farid ; Sawangjaroen, Kitja ; Rundorn, Wilart ; Withyachumnarnkul, Boornsirm ; Connor, James R.
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Publisher
Murcia : F. Hernández
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DOI
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info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Description
Abstract
Background and aim: Some degenerative
diseases of the nervous system have been linked to
hormonal imbalance in postmenopausal women. It is
argued that young coconut juice (YCJ) could have some
estrogen-like characteristics, but this is still debatable.
Our aim was to investigate this argument, and to
examine whether YCJ has any neuroprotective effects.
Materials and methods: Four groups of female rats
(10 in each group) were included in this study. These
included sham-operated, overiectomized (ovx), ovx and
receiving estradiol benzoate (EB) injections
intraperitoneally, and ovx and receiving YCJ orally. At
the end of the five-week study, the rats were sacrificed,
and their serum estradiol (E2) level was measured by
chemiluminescent immunoassay. Moreover, the rat
brains were excised, and the cortical pyramidal neurons
were examined using markers of neuronal cell death,
namely anti-neurofilament (NF200) and antiparvalbumin
(PV) antibodies.
Results: Our results showed that the rat group which
received YCJ had its serum E2 level significantly
(P<0.05) higher than the ovx group which did not
receive any treatment, and the sham-operated group. A
similar trend was observed with the group which
received EB injections, but no significant difference was
present when the latter was compared with the shamoperated
group. In addition, a significant reduction in
neuronal cell death was observed in the YCJ-treated group, as compared to the ovx group which did not
receive any treatment. This was indicated by the
significantly (P<0.05) higher number of neurons which
were immunopositive for NF200 and PV. Interestingly,
the number of these neurons was also significantly
(P<0.05) higher in the YCJ group, as compared to the
EB group.
Conclusion: This study confirms the argument that
YCJ has estrogen-like characteristics, and it also adds
more evidence to the observation that hormonal
imbalance could induce some brain pathologies in
females.
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