Endocrine Abstracts

The tropical fruit Annona muricata, commonly known as soursop, possesses notable medicinal properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. This study looks at how aqueous soursop seed extract affects the hypothalamo-pancreatic axis in a rat model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) caused by aluminium chloride. It shows how neurodegeneration and metabolic dysfunction are linked. Alzheimer’s disease is associated with pancreatic islet cell dysfunction and disrupted insulin signalling, indicating a potential metabolic component in neurodegenerative processes. In this study, rats were given 100 mg/kg of aluminium chloride to induce AD. The rats were then split into three groups: the control group (Al), the soursop-treated group (Al+Soursop), and the standard treatment group (Al+Std, receiving 100 mg/kg of donepezil).d Alzheimer’s disease (AD) experienced significant weight loss (P > 0.05), significantly elevated blood glucose levels, and reduced insulin concentrations (P > 0.05), indicating pronounced pancreatic dysfunction. Treatment with soursop seed extract reversed these metabolic disturbances. Furthermore, oxidative stress was marked by increased lipid peroxidation, as shown by higher levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), along with a significant drop in antioxidant enzyme activity (superoxide dismutase, SOD) in both the pancreas and hypothalamus. However, administration of soursop seed extract effectively mitigated these oxidative markers, highlighting its potential in countering the detrimental effects of oxidative stress in this neurodegenerative model.