Evaluation of Effects on Improvement of Muscle Strength, Prevention of Oligodendrocytes and Myelin Damage in Brain, Animal Model of MS Disease

multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disorder with autoimmune pathophysiology which is accompanied by neurological disability. Astaxanthin (AST) can be effective in prevention of this abnormal conditions because of its ability to cross the blood brain barrier and the other reasons are antioxidant and nerve protection effect. The purpose of this study is to evaluate AST effect on MS prevention by appraising the muscle strength, prevention of oligodendrocyte cells and myelin degradation in Rat brain. 4o wistar rats were divided into four experimentalgroups: control, cuprizone, sham (cuprizone + DMSO) and astaxanthin. AST group received cuprizone (0.6%) and AST (3mg/Kg) coincidently for four weeks by gavaging. During the study we evaluate muscle strength by using a behavioral basket test, the percentage of cell expressing A2B5 and MOG markers by immunohistochemistry technique. Myelin density was evaluated by luxal fast blue staining. We use RTPCR in order to measuring MBP, MOG and PDGFr gene expression. Using Image J and SPSS softwares,the results were analyzed by one-way ANOVA test. our data in immunochemistry and other evaluation techniques showed that the percentage of mature oligodendrocytesand oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in the AST group were remarkable higher than those in the sham and cuprizone group. In addition, myelin density and muscle strength in AST group were higher than the those cuprizone and sham group. (p≤0.05). this study confirms the positive effects of AST and natural compounds containing AST in the prevention of oligodendrocytes and myelin ddestruction in the people susceptible to MS.