Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive condition that is the second most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide that is characterized by gradual loss of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNPc) thereby leading to bradykinesia, rigidity, tremor and postural instability. Approximately 5.25 million Nigerians are above 65 years and are therefore at risk for developing PD with approximately 10-249 cases per 100,000 people per year, with the mean age of onset close to 60 years. Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of PD Diagnosis of this condition is usually late because, before the manifestation of the movement disorders, about 75% of these neurons are already lost, in fact, one of the differential diagnoses of PD is its response to levodopa treatment which does not seem to positively affect the progression of the condition. This explains why there is a need for a neuroprotective therapy that will prevent the death of these neurons and/ or halt the progression of this condition. Honey has been observed by various studies to be a radical scavenging gel as well as an enhancer of the antioxidant defense system. In this study, there was a combination of Honey with L-Dopa to ascertain if the combination will cause neuroprotection to the dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra in adult male Swiss mice via the mediation of the antioxidant system. 40 animals used for this study were divided into the control and parkinsonism groups of 20 animals each. 10 of the control animals received PBS while the others received 1.5ml/kg body weight of honey (HON) and 80mg/ kg body weight of L-Dopa (L-Dopa) for 21days. However, 10 of the parkinsonism group were pretreated with HON and L-Dopa before parkinsonism induction. Behavioral studies were conducted 2 days after the induction while the animals were sacrificed 7 days after the induction. after which some brain samples were prepared for biochemical analysis and the others were used for histological and immune histo chemical staining. The footprint behavioral test showed that the Honey + L-Dopa group had less abnormalities in gait when compared to the MPTP group. Immuno histochemical analysis showed significantly reduced number of Nissl substance, pyktotic and pale stained cells in the MPTP group, while the Honey + Ldopa before MPTP group had relatively increased number of Nissl substance and deeply stained cells when stained with Cresyl fast Violet (CFV) stain. Combination of LDOPA and Honey helped in the reduction of MPTPinduced dopaminergic neuron loss as well as improvement of motor-related symptoms of MPTP induced Parkinsonism in adult male albino Swiss mice.

Keywords : Parkinson’s disease; Dopaminergic neurons; MPTP; L-DOPA; Honey