A possible protective role of betain and omega-3 supplementation in traumatic brain injury
Serdar Ataizi 1, Mete Ozkoc 2, Gungor Kanbak 2, Hadi Karimkhani 3, Dilek Burukoglu Donmez 4, Novber Ustunisik 2, Buket Ozturk 5
Affiliations
Article Info
1 Department of Neurosurgery Yunusemre State Hospital, Eskișehir, Turkey
2 Medical Biochemistry, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Osmangazi University, Eskișehir, Turkey
3 Medical Biochemistry, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey
4 Medical Histology and Embryology, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Osmangazi University, Eskișehir, Turkey
5 Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Osmangazi University, Eskișehir, Turkey
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Due to irreversible damage following head trauma, many overlapping pathophysiological events occur including excitotoxicity, acidotoxicity, ionic imbalance, edema, oxidative stress inflammation and apoptosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this this study, after the rats were separated in to groups theserats were fed throughout fourteen days with betaine, omega-3 or betaine+omega-3 combination in physiological limits prior to the trauma. After a closed head trauma, the damaged brain tissues were collected for biochemically and histologically analyses. This examination involved analyses of levels of caspase-3 and cytochrome C and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) levels in brain tissue. RESULTS: These analyses showed that traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused an increase in the levels of caspase-3, cytochrome C and neuron-specific enolase (NED) in the brain tissues examined. DISCUSSION: In this study, apoptotic and/or necrotic cell death via mitochondrial cytochrome C caspase pathway in traumatized cells and neuron-specific enolase (NED) increase indicative of neuronal damage confirmed the research hypothesis. CONCLUSION: Level of the biomarkers induced by brain injury in the groups fed with betaine, omega-3 and betaine+omega-3 combination before the traumatic damage approximated to that of control group values, suggesting that these products may have a neuroprotective role.
Keywords
- Betain
- Caspase-3
- Cytochrome C and Neuron-specific enolase
- Omega-3
- Traumatic brain injury
