Neuroprotective Effect of Chrysin in Rat Model of Parkinsons Disease: Histopathological Evidence

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative ailment that worsens over time. PD is characterized by severe motor and non-motor symptoms. Because there is no cure for Parkinson's disease, current treatments heavily rely on relieving symptoms. The current research explores the histopathological changes in the different brain regions including the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and striatum after subcutaneous rotenone administration every other day for 21 days in adult male Wistar rats. Substantial morphological changes were noticed in cell area. Sections examined showed severe neuronal loss and excessive appearance of abnormal damaged, shrunken red neurons, intercellular edema and vacuolation of intercellular neuropile and loss of myelinated fibers. After the last rotenone injection, chrysin and L-dopa were given for 28 days. The findings showed that chrysin treatment displayed significant improvement in the neuronal architecture and decrease of damage caused by rotenone in different brain regions. This appeared in the form of moderate protective efficacy with the persistence of loss in normal neuronal densities. However, combined treatment of rotenone-injected animals with chrysin and L-dopa was associated with more records of visible intact neurons and fewer records of abnormal degenerative changes in various brain neuronal areas This study concludes that chrysin may be a useful drug alone or with L-dopa for the treatment of rotenone-induced PD.