The Effect of Vitamin E on the Expression of Mitochondrial Apoptotic Pathway Genes in the Cerebellar Tissue of the Parkinson’S Rat Model

Introduction: parkinson’s disease is one of the debilitating diseases which is more common amongst the elderly; oxidative stress has been found to be one of its major causes. in this study, therefore, the effect of vitamin e on the expression of bcl-2 family genes was studied. materials and methods: a total of 24 adult rats were purchased from the pasteur institute of iran. the rats were later divided into 4 groups: control group, control group receiving vite, pd group, pd group receiving vite. after rna extraction, cdna synthesis, and primer design of bax and bcl-2 genes, their expressions were studied in different rat groups by real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) technique. results: the mitochondrial apoptotic gene expressions were affected by vitamin e administration. vitamin e decreased the expression of bax gene and overexpressed bcl-2 gene. conclusion: vitamin e plays an important role in reducing the effects of oxidative stress and, consequently, apoptosis in the cerebellar tissue cells of rats with parkinson’s disease.