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Mechanisms of aluminium neurotoxicity in oxidative stress-induced ...

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MATERIALS AND METHODS<br />

Chemicals<br />

CHAPTER 2<br />

Nitric acid 69% Hiperpur� from Panreac SA (Barcelona, Spa<strong>in</strong>) was used to<br />

perform microwave digestions. H2O2 30% Suprapur� and a dogfish muscle DORM-2<br />

certified reference material were purchased from Merck (Darmstadt, FRG) and from the<br />

National Research Council (Otawa, Canada), respectively. Argon N50 (99.999% purity)<br />

was used as a sheath gas for the atomizer and to purge <strong>in</strong>ternally. Alum<strong>in</strong>ium chloride<br />

hexahydrate was purchased from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO, USA). The water<br />

used for the preparations <strong>of</strong> solutions was <strong>of</strong> 18.2 M� (Milli-RiOs/Q-A10 grade,<br />

Millipore Corp., Bedford, MA, USA). All rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g chemicals used were <strong>of</strong> analytical<br />

grade and were purchased from Fluka Chemie AG (Buchs, Switzerland).<br />

Animal treatment<br />

Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats (200-250 g) were used <strong>in</strong> this study. All<br />

experiments were performed <strong>in</strong> accordance with the NIH publication “Pr<strong>in</strong>ciples <strong>of</strong><br />

laboratory animal care” and approved by the Ethics Committee <strong>of</strong> the University <strong>of</strong><br />

Santiago de Compostela. Animals were randomly divided <strong>in</strong>to four experimental group:<br />

the first group was daily i.p. <strong>in</strong>jected with <strong>alum<strong>in</strong>ium</strong> chloride (Sigma Chemical Co.) <strong>in</strong><br />

sal<strong>in</strong>e (0.9% NaCl) at a dose <strong>of</strong> 10 mg <strong>alum<strong>in</strong>ium</strong>/kg/day (pH 4) for one week. The<br />

second group was i.p. <strong>in</strong>jected with sal<strong>in</strong>e over the same period. The third group was<br />

given orally 25 mg <strong>alum<strong>in</strong>ium</strong>/kg/day and 89 mg citric acid/kg/day <strong>in</strong> sal<strong>in</strong>e for one<br />

week. After this period, <strong>alum<strong>in</strong>ium</strong> and citric acid doses were <strong>in</strong>creased to 50<br />

mg/kg/day and 178 mg/kg/day, respectively, for one more week. F<strong>in</strong>ally, doses were<br />

adjusted to 100 mg <strong>alum<strong>in</strong>ium</strong>/kg/day and 356 mg citric acid/kg/day for two additional<br />

weeks. Citric acid was added to enhance the gastro<strong>in</strong>test<strong>in</strong>al absorption <strong>of</strong> <strong>alum<strong>in</strong>ium</strong><br />

(Gómez et al. 1999). The fourth group was given sal<strong>in</strong>e orally dur<strong>in</strong>g the entire<br />

107

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