What question did this study set out to answer?

April 19, 2026SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología7 citationsOpen Access

Neuroprotective effects of rutin, sodium selenite, and rutin-conjugated selenium nanoparticles in a social isolation model

KAKhaled M. Alam-ElDein ASAbanoub A. S. Shaker MEManal F. El-Khadragy

Key Points

This research aims to evaluate the neuroprotective effects of rutin, sodium selenite, and rutin-conjugated selenium nanoparticles in a model of social isolation-induced neurological impairment.
Conducted in silico analysis for rutin activity and toxicity assessments
Allocated 42 male albino rats into six treatment groups including controls and various treatments following social isolation
Performed biochemical analyses measuring behavioral tests, oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis markers
Applied histopathological analysis and immunohistochemistry on collected brain samples
Assessed gene expression related to neuroprotection and cellular function
Significant behavioral and biochemical impairments were observed in SI rats compared to controls (P < 0.05)
RUT-SeNPs indicated the strongest recovery in most markers, comparable to controls and superior to other treatment groups (P < 0.05)
Treatments normalized various factors including behavior, cytokine levels, neurotransmitters, and histology to control levels

Abstract

Background Social isolation (SI) is a long-standing experimental paradigm that models schizophrenia-like behavioural and neurobiological changes caused by the action of oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, apoptosis, and neurotransmitter imbalance. The scope of this paper was to comparatively assess the effectiveness of rutin, sodium selenite (Na 2 SeO 3 ), and rutin-conjugated selenium nanoparticles (RUT-SeNPs) to determine their neuroprotective activity using a rat model of neurobehavioral impairment following SI. Methods In silico analysis of Rutin activity including in silico ADMET and toxicity, and molecular docking. Forty-two healthy male albino rats were allocated equally in to six groups; Control group, Social isolation group (SI), SI treated with Olanzapine (SIOLA), SI treated with Rutin group (SIRUT), SI treated with the sodium selenite group (SINa 2 SeO 3 ), and SI treated with Se nanoparticles biosynthesized using the Rutin group (SIRUT-SeNPs). All groups undergone biochemical analysis including behavioral tests, assessment of neural function, oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis, histopathological analysis, immunohistochemistry, and gene expression. Results SI induction produced significant behavioral, biochemical, neurochemical, and structural impairments compared with controls ( P 0.05). SI rats showed marked reductions in locomotion, sucrose preference, social interaction, antioxidant capacity (Nrf2, SOD, CAT, GSH), neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine, GABA, glycine), and BDNF, alongside significant increases in oxidative stress markers (8-OHdG, MDA, NO), inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, NF-κB), apoptotic mediators (Bax and Caspase-3), GFAP, and histological degeneration ( P 0.05). Across all assessments, RUT-SeNPs produced the strongest and statistically significant recovery, yielding values comparable to control and significantly superior to SI, SIOLA, and SIRUT groups ( P 0.05). RUT-SeNPs normalized behavioral outcomes, antioxidant status, cytokine levels, apoptotic markers, neurotransmitters, BDNF/GFAP balance, and cortical histoarchitecture. Conclusion Rutin and sodium selenite provided significantly protective effects across behavioral, biochemical, and neurochemical parameters. Among all treatments, RUT-SeNPs produced markedly attenuated, restoring nearly all measured markers including redox balance, cytokines, apoptosis regulators, neurotransmitters, BDNF/GFAP levels, and cortical histology to values comparable to controls.

AI에게 질문

Bookmark

View Full Paper