The Effect of Sesamin on Motor Asymmetry in Intrastriatal 6-Hydroxydopamine Rat Model of Parkinson''s Disease

Background and objective: parkinson's disease (pd) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease with selective damage of dopaminergic neurons of the mesencephalon. l-dihydroxyphenylamine (l-dopa) therapy is currently the gold standard maneuver for pd. due to the protective, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effect of sesamin, this study was undertaken to assess dose-dependent effect of this agent on motor asymmetry induced by intrastriatal injection of 6-hydroxydopamine in the rat.materials and methods: in this experimental research, male wistar rats (n=48) were equally divided into sham, sesamin20-treated sham, 6-hydroxydopamine (ohda)-lesioned, sesamin10 and sesamin20-treated lesion groups, and sesamin20-treated lesion group receiving the estrogenic antagonist fulvestrant. model of pd was induced by microinjecting 12.5 microgram of 6-ohda dissolved in normal saline-ascorbate solution into the left striatum. treated lesion groups received sesamin at doses of 10 or 20 mg/kg/day started one week till 1 h before the surgery. after 1 week, ipsilateral and contralateral rotations induced by apomorphine were counted and net scores were obtained.results: in the 6-ohda-lesioned group, the dopaminergic agonist apomorphine induced contralateral rotational behavior (p < 0.001) as compared to sham. in addition, administration of sesamin at both doses (10 and 20 mg/kg) significantly reduced the number of contralateral rotations (p < 0.01) versus 6-ohda group and fulvestrant attenuated this effect. conclusion: sesamin administration at doses of 10 and 20 mg/kg could reduce motor asymmetry and attenuate forced biased rotational behavior in 6-ohda-induced model of pd and part of this effect is possibly via an estrogenic pathway.