Mannosylated liposomal cytidine 5' diphosphocholine prevent age related global moderate cerebral ischemia reperfusion induced mitochondrial cytochrome c release in aged rat brain

Mitochondrial dysfunctions generating from cerebral ischemia-reperfusion exert a potential threat on neuronal cell survival and hence, accelerate the aging process and age dependent neuropathology. Thirty min moderate cerebral ischemia induced by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) followed by 30 min reperfusion caused an increased diene production, depleted glutathione (GSH) content, reduced superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase activities and pyramidal neuronal loss in young (2 months old) and aged (20 months old) rat brain compared to sham operated controls. Cytidine 5' diphosphocholine (CDP-Choline) is a known neuroprotective drug. CDP-Choline after metabolism in the liver suffers hydrolysis and splits into cytidine and choline before entering systemic circulation and hardly circumvents blood brain barrier (BBB) as such. Previous reports show CDP-Choline liposomes significantly increased in vivo uptake compared to "free drug" administration in cerebral ischemia. To enhance the therapeutic concentration build up in brain we sought to formulate mannosylated liposomal CDP-Choline (MLCDP) utilizing the mannose receptors. We tested the therapeutic supremacy of MLCDP over liposomal CDP-Choline (LCDP) in global moderate cerebral ischemia reperfusion induced neuronal damage. CDP-Choline in MLCDP delivery system was found potent to exert substantial protection against global moderate cerebral ischemia reperfusion induced mitochondrial damage in aged rat brain. Membrane lipid peroxidation, GSSG/GSH ratio and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in cerebral tissue were found to be higher in aged, compared to young rat. Further decline of those parameters was observed in aged rat brain by the induction of global moderate cerebral ischemia and reperfusion. MLCDP treatment when compared to free or LCDP treatment prevented global moderate cerebral ischemia-reperfusion induced mitochondrial damage as evident ultra structurally and release of cytochrome c (cyt c) from mitochondria into cytosol and protected mitochondria to restore its normal structure and functions.