Can Bioactive Compounds in Beetroot/Carrot Juice Have a Neuroprotective Effect? Morphological Studies of Neurons Immunoreactive to Calretinin of the Rat Hippocampus after Exposure to Cadmium.

Cadmium ions (Cd) penetrate the blood-brain barrier and can, among other effects, influence intracellular calcium metabolism, leading to neurodegeneration. In the presented work, we estimated the effect of Cd on the expression of calretinin in the neurons of the rat hippocampus and analyzed the reverse effect of freshly pressed beetroot/carrot juice in this context. In the 12-week lasting experiment, 32 8-week-old male Wistar rats were divided into four experimental groups (n = 8): the control group (C) received pure tap water; the Cd group (Cd)-received Cd dissolved in tap water (5 mg Cd/kg b.w.); and two groups received beetroot/carrot juice: the BCJ group was administered only juice, and the Cd + BCJ group received juice with the addition of Cd (5 mg Cd/kg b.w.). The exposition to low doses of Cd caused a significant decrease in calretinin-immunoreactive (Cr-IR) neurons compared to the non-exposed groups. Moreover, the addition of Cd to tap water reduced the numbers and length of Cr-IR nerve fibers. The negative effect of Cd was significantly attenuated by the simultaneous supplementation of beetroot/carrot juice (Cd + BCJ). The study showed that the bioactive compounds in the beetroot/carrot juice can modulate Ca levels in neurons, and thus, potentially act as a neuroprotective factor against neuronal damage.