protective role of oleuropein against acute deltamethrin- induced neurotoxicity in rat brain

background: deltamethrin (dm) is a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide that can elicit neurotoxicity, leading to apoptosis. there is accumulating evidence that oleuropein (oe) has anti-apoptotic effect. the purpose of this study was to determine the anti-apoptotic effect of oe pretreatment in the neuronal cells of cerebral cortex. methods: rats were randomly divided into four groups each containing five rats: dm-treated group (12.5 mg/kg, a single dose), oe-treated group (20 mg/kg per day), dm + oe-treated group, and vehicle group. sections of the brain were obtained 24 hours after dm injection and studied for histopathological and immunohistochemistry assessment. results: the histopathological assessments showed lesser characteristics of neural degeneration in dm + oe group compared with dm group. greater bcl-2 and attenuated bax expression could be detected in the dm + oe treated-mice compared with dm group. conclusion: the results suggested that dm-induced neurotoxicity can be subsided by oe.