Experimental studies have demonstrated that
free radicals play a major role on neuronal injury during
ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) in rats.
Erdosteine is a thioderivative endowed with mucokinetic,
mucolytic and
free-radical-scavenging properties. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of
erdosteine treatment against short-term global
brain ischemia/
reperfusion injury in rats. The study was carried out on Wistar rats divided into four groups. (i) Control group, (ii)
ischemia/reperfusion group, (iii)
ischemia/reperfusion+erdosteine group, and (iv)
erdosteine group.
Superoxide dismutase (SOD),
catalase (CAT), and
glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities as well as
thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARSs) and
nitric oxide (NO) levels were analysed in erythrocyte and plasma of rats. Plasma NO levels were significantly higher in the
ischemia/reperfusion group than the other groups. The activities of SOD and GSH-Px were decreased, while
TBARS levels increased in the
ischemia/reperfusion group compared to other groups in both plasma and erythrocyte. The erythrocyte CAT activity was higher in
erdosteine group and there was a statistically significant increase, when compared with the
erdosteine plus
ischemia/reperfusion group. By treating the rats with
erdosteine, the depletion of
endogenous antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GSH-Px) and increase of
TBARS and NO levels were prevented. This study, therefore, suggests that
erdosteine reduces parameters of oxidative stress is well supported by the data.