Effects of low and high deprenyl dose on antioxidant enzyme activities in the adult rat brain.

We evaluated the effects of low dose deprenyl (LDD, 0.0025 mg/kg per day) and high dose deprenyl (HDD, 0.25 mg/kg per day) treatment of male Wistar rats for 30 days on the activities of SOD and CAT in the cortex, striatum, and hippocampus. Total SOD and MnSOD activities were increased with LDD (p < 0.05) in the cortex (0.74 +/- 0.03; 0.31 +/- 0.02), striatum (0.75 +/- 0.02; 0.27 +/- 0.03) and CAl region of the hippocampus (0.75 +/- 0.02; 0.29 +/- 0.03) compared to the control (0.53 +/- 0.02; 0.15 +/- 0.02), but reduced (p < 0.05) with HDD compared to the LDD group. CAT activity was increased (p < 0.05) with LDD in the cortex (27.34 +/- 3.11), striatum (22.22 +/- 1.85), and hippocampal CAl region (16.62 +/- 2.15) compared to control (10.33 +/- 1.01), while a decrease was induced by HDD in the striatum (9.85 +/- 1.09) compared to LDD. There was a significant (p < 0.05) difference in number of Fluoro Jade B positive CAl neurons induced by LDD (21.14 +/- 2.85%) and HDD (12.61 +/- 1.42%), as well as the number of NeuN positive CAl neurons after LDD (183.35 +/- 11.14 cells/mm) and HDD (238.45 +/- 14.11 cells/mm (p < 0.05). Deprenyl showed a potential in improving the neurological outcome and reducing the oxidative damage.