Abstract
Tomato seeds, a major by-product from the food processing industry, constitute a rich source of bioactives and a large population consumes tomato (either in raw or cooked form). In the present study, initially we assessed the antioxidant activity of aqueous extract of tomato seeds (TSE) in selected chemical systems and further explored the neuroprotective effects of TSE utilising the rotenone (ROT) model of neurotoxicity in Drosophila. Adult male flies (Oregon K) were fed TSE-enriched medium (0.1-0.2%) with or without ROT (500 µmol L(-1) ) for 7 days. The propensity of TSE to protect flies against ROT-induced lethality, locomotor phenotype, oxidative stress and neurotoxicity was investigated. TSE offered marked protection against ROT-induced mortality, while survivors exhibited improved locomotor phenotype. TSE significantly attenuated ROT-induced oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunctions, protein carbonyls content, restored the cholinergic function and dopamine levels. We hypothesise that the efficacy of tomato seed extract to attenuate ROT-mediated neurotoxicity may be largely related to the combined antioxidant activity of bioactives resulting in abrogation of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. More importantly, our approach provides an experimental paradigm to rapidly assess the potential neuroprotective effects of common dietary components employing Drosophila, since it corroborates previous evidence in a mouse model. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.
