Emerging role of Centella asiatica in improving age-related neurological antioxidant status

Free radicals have been hypothesized to play an important role in ageing process. There exists an imbalance between free radical production and antioxidant defense mechanism, which may lead to cell death during ageing. Our study was designed to determine whether extract of Centella asiatica, an antioxidant, when administered orally (300 mg/kg body weight/day) for 60 days would prevent age-related changes in antioxidant defense system, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and protein carbonyl (PCO) content in rat brain regions such as cortex, hypothalamus, striatum, cerebellum and hippocampus. Aged rats elicited a significant decline in the antioxidant status and increased the LPO and PCO as compared to control rats in all five regions studied. The increase in LPO and PCO contents were (64%, 34%) in cortex, (86%, 30%) in cerebellum, (51%, 47%) in striatum, (77%, 27%) in hypothalamus and (58%, 45%) in hippocampus, respectively, in aged rats as compared to young rats. Supplementation of C. asiatica was effective in reducing brain regional LPO and PCO levels and in increasing the antioxidant status. Thus, C. asiatica by acting as a potent antioxidant exerted significant neuroprotective effect and proved efficacious in protecting rat brain against age related oxidative damage. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.