Streptozotocin and dimenthyl fumarate decreases plasma tumor necrosis factor Alpha concentration in rats

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: This study aims to determine if dimethyl fumarate (DMF), antioxidant having immunosuppressive properties, taken orally for three weeks will affect plasma tumor necrosis factor  alpha (TNF-α) concentration in an animal model of sporadic form of Alzheimer’s disease (sAD) induced by intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of betacytotoxic drug, streptozotocin (STZ). METHODS: Blood samples from young, male Wistar rats divided into four groups: STZ DMF (subjected to icv injection of STZ, fed with 0.4% DMF fodder), VEH DMF (subjected to icv injection of vehicle, fed with 0.4% DMF fodder), STZ CTR (subjected to icv injection of STZ, fed with standard fodder), VEH CTR (subjected to icv injection of vehicle, fed with standard fodder) were taken one hour after Morris water maze test finishing. Then, TNF-α concentration was determined with ELISA method using a Rat TNF-α ELISA Kit. RESULTS: Injections of STZ in rats being on the control feed (STZ/ CTR) significantly decreased (P≤0.05) the  plasma concentration of  TNF-α (22±2 pg/ml; mean±SE) as compared to the controls (VEH/CTR: 33±3 pg/ml). Moreover, within the STZ/DMF group, a significant (P≤0.01) decrease in the concentration of  TNF-α (22±0.8 pg/ml)  as compared to the controls  (VEH/DMF: 30±2 pg/ ml), was observed. CONCLUSION: The obtained results indicate that streptozotocin injection and feeding with dimethyl fumarate of the streptozotocininduced sAD rats reduce such a peripheral blood pro-inflammatory cytokine level as TNF-α.