Studies on H1N1 vaccine-induced monoamines alternations and oxidative stress on brain of adult mice

Article history: Received on: 14/03/2013 Revised on: 02/04/2013 Accepted on: 19/04/2013 Available online: 27/04/2013 Over the past decade illness outbreaks have posed a serious threat to human life and well-being. The 2009 outbreak H1N1/A influenza virus also was expected to disproportionately affect healthy young persons under the age of 25 years. A small amount of the preservative thimerosal is routinely added to many vaccine preparations, including H1N1 vaccine. Thimerosal is an organic mercurial containing an ethylmercury moiety attached to the sulfur atom of thiosalicylate. Since the 1930s, thimerosal has been used as an antiseptic and a preservative in a wide variety of products, to investigate the monoamines alternation and oxidative stress induced after H1N1 vaccine injection, adult male Swiss mice were injected with thiomerosal, adjuvant, H1N1 antigen and H1N1 vaccine. Results obtain on the present study showed that thiomerosal, H1N1 antigen and H1N1 vaccine were caused significant decrease in norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine (DA) contents of hypothalamus, striatum and cerebral cortex. The alternation in NE and DA was associated with significant increase in oxidative markers namely lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide, oxidation induction was extent to cause significant decrease in glutathione level. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that H1N1 vaccine as a whole and/or its ingredient caused oxidative stress and monoamines alternations in brain of mice. The present observation could be due to the presence of thiomerosal.