Comparative Neuropathological Study of Sodium nitrite and Nisin Exposed Rats With Special Reference to Expression of Glial Fibrillar Acidic Protein and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor

The present study was performed to evaluate the neurotoxicity of sodium nitrite (NaNO2) and nisin in cerebral cortex and hippocampus. A total of 27 adult female rats were divided into three groups, control group, sodium nitrite and nisin treated groups with 9 rats per each. The rats of groups 2 and 3 were given orally 30 mg/kg body weight and 50 mg/kg b.w daily of NaNO2 and nisin respectively for 2 months by gastric intubation while rats in control group were given orally 0.9% saline. Histopathological examination of brain was performed, in addition to immune histochemical staining for glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were applied on brain sections of both treated and control groups. Results revealed various histopathological alterations that were more evident in deep cerebral grey matter and white matter including neuronal degeneration, astrogliosis and vascular changes in addition to reduction in cellular mass in different regions of hippocampus was detected. There was no recognized histopathological changes in nisin treated group. Increase expression of GFAP & VEGF in NaNO2-treated group was evident compared with nisin and control groups. Conclusion: sodium nitrite has neurotoxic potential via inducing histopathological alterations that were evident in deep cerebral cortex and different region of hippocampus with increased expression of GFAP &VEGF while the nisin is non neurotoxic agent .