hello list: Neuroprotective effect of vitamin E has been investigated before. It does not across the blood/brain barrier. Vitamin C is reportedly good too. Ray ....................................................... Brain Res 2001 Feb 16;892(1):211-217 Neuroprotective effect of vitamin E on the early model of Parkinson's disease in rat: behavioral and histochemical evidence(1). Roghani M, Behzadi G Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, P.O. Box 19835-181, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran [Record supplied by publisher] There is strong evidence that oxidative stress participates in the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD). We designed this study to investigate the neuroprotective effect of vitamin E in the early model of PD. For this purpose, unilateral intrastriatal 6-hydroxydopamine (12.5 ?g/5 ?l) lesioned rats were pretreated intramuscularly with D-alpha-tocopheryl acid succinate (24 I.U./kg, i.m.) 1 h before and three times per week for 1 month post-surgery. Apomorphine- and amphetamine-induced rotational behavior was measured postlesion fortnightly. A parallel tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity and wheat germ agglutinin-horse radish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) tract-tracing study was performed to evaluate the vitamin E pretreatment efficacy. Tyrosine hydroxylase-immunohistochemical analyses showed a reduction of 18% in ipsilateral substantia nigra pars compacta (SNC) cell number of the vitamin E-pretreated lesioned (L+E) group comparing with contralateral side. The cell number dropped to 53% in the lesioned (L+V) group. In addition, retrograde-labeled neurons in ipsilateral SNC were reduced by up to 30% in the L+E group and 65% in the L+V group. Behavioral tests revealed that there are 74% and 68% reductions in contraversive and ipsiversive rotations in the L+E group, respectively, as compared with the L+V group. Therefore repeated intramuscular administration of vitamin E exerts a rapid protective effect on the nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons in the early unilateral model of PD. PMID: 11172767 ....................................................... Ray Strand Prairie Sky Design -----------------( on the Edge of the Prairie Abyss )--------------- when the sky is clear the ground is visible 49/dx PD 2 yrs/40? onset/retired