Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Effect on Oxidative Status, Brain Activity, Anxiety-Like Behavior and Memory in Adult and Aged Male Rats

Zinc is participating in different physiological processes and it is a functional or structural constituent of many proteins.As many pieces of evidence point to that in the elderly the zinc brain homeostasis is affected.The current work studied the zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) effect on the oxidative status and brain activity in adult and aged Sprague-Dawley rat brain.Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats (6 months and 24 months old rats) were used in this study; 10 of each age category served as a control and 10 rats of 6 and 24 months old rats were treated with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) orally.Morris water maze and elevated plus maze performance tests were used for neurophysiological evaluations of memory and anxiety-like behavior, respectively.Brain malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced Glutathione (GSH) levels, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, serum and brain zinc and nitrite contents and creatine kinase (CK), acetylcholine esterase (AChE), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities were estimated.Control aged rats revealed high level of memory impairment, anxiety and oxidative stress damage which were not found in the control adult rats.ZnO NPs treatment significantly ameliorated the aging-induced cognitive impairment, anxiety and oxidative stress damage.The findings of the present study indicate a protective effect of ZnO NPs against aging-induced cognitive impairment, anxiety and associated oxidative damage recommending the use of ZnO NPs for boosting brain function and protecting the brain from further decay.