Cognitive impairment is one of the serious side effects that cancer-treated patients suffer from after treatment by doxorubicin (DOX). Investigating the mechanisms underlying this impairment is crucial for its treatment or prevention. The current study investigates the cortical and hippocampal neurochemical changes induced by an acute dose of DOX (20 mg/kg, i.p.) and evaluates the neuroprotective effect of nanocurcumin (NC) (50 mg/kg, p.o.) against these changes. Animals were randomly divided into four groups, control, rats treated with either NC or DOX, and the fourth group treated with NC prior to DOX. Cortical dopamine level has significantly increased (71.88 %) after DOX injection. This was associated with a significant rise in the levels of lipid peroxidation (183.99 %, 201.4 %) and nitric oxide (36.54 %, 55 %) and a significant reduction in reduced glutathione (13 %, 21.44 %) in the cortex and hippocampus, respectively. In addition, DOX inhibited the cortical and hippocampal activities of acetylcholinesterase (94.82 %, 62.75 %) and monoamine oxidase (64.40 %, 68.84 %), respectively. Protection with NC mitigates the changes induced in the oxidative stress parameters by DOX. However, the effect on the activities of AchE and MAO was insignificant. This was reflected in the level of dopamine that showed non-significant changes in comparison to control and DOX-treated rats. The present findings indicate that oxidative stress, inhibition in AchE, MAO, and the subsequent elevation in dopamine could have a crucial role in mediating the chemo-brain adverse effects induced by DOX. In addition, protection with NC mitigated some of these adverse effects thus rendering DOX more tolerable.

认知障碍是癌症治疗患者在接受阿霉素 (DOX) 治疗后遭受的严重副作用之一。研究这种损伤的潜在机制对于其治疗或预防至关重要。目前的研究调查了急性剂量的 DOX (20 mg/kg, ip) 引起的皮质和海马神经化学变化，并评估了纳米姜黄素 (NC) (50 mg/kg, po) 对这些变化的神经保护作用。将动物随机分为四组，对照组，用 NC 或 DOX 治疗的大鼠，第四组在 DOX 之前用 NC 治疗。DOX 注射后皮质多巴胺水平显着增加 (71.88 %)。这与脂质过氧化（183.99%、201.4%）和一氧化氮（36.54%、55 %）和皮质和海马中还原型谷胱甘肽的显着减少（13 %、21.44 %）。此外，DOX 分别抑制乙酰胆碱酯酶 (94.82 %, 62.75 %) 和单胺氧化酶 (64.40 %, 68.84 %) 的皮质和海马活性。NC 保护可减轻 DOX 引起的氧化应激参数变化。然而，对 AchE 和 MAO 活性的影响是微不足道的。这反映在多巴胺水平上，与对照和 DOX 治疗的大鼠相比，多巴胺水平没有显着变化。目前的研究结果表明，氧化应激、AchE、MAO 的抑制以及随后的多巴胺升高可能在介导 DOX 诱导的化学脑副作用中起关键作用。此外，