Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 11 pp 3445—3462
N-acetyl cysteine, inulin and the two as a combined therapy ameliorate cognitive decline in testosterone-deprived rats
Figure 2. The effects of NAC, inulin and combined therapy on blood-brain barrier integrity, hippocampal oxidative stress and hippocampal inflammation in rats with Testosterone deprivation. (A) Upper panels: the representative bands of claudin-5 blotting. Lower panel: The expression of the hippocampal claudin-5 protein. (B) Upper panels: the representative bands of occludin blotting. Lower panel: The expression of hippocampal occludin protein. (C) Hippocampal oxidative stress as indicated by hippocampal ROS level. (D) Brain oxidative stress as indicated by brain MDA level. (E) Upper panels: the representative bands of p-NFĸb, total-NFĸB and actin. Lower panel: The expression of p-NFĸb per total-NFĸB ratio. NDS: rats with sham operation; NDO: rats with orchiectomy; NDOT: rats with orchiectomy receiving testosterone replacement; NDON: rats with orchiectomy receiving NAC treatment; NDOI: rats with orchiectomy receiving inulin treatment; NDOC: rats with orchiectomy receiving a combined therapy (the combination of NAC and inulin) (N=6 of each group) *p<0.05 in comparison with the NDS, †p<0.05 in comparison with the NDS.