Abstract
Oxidative stress has been considered as one of the possible mechanisms leading to the neurotoxicity of lead. One of the effective ways to prevent cellular damage after lead exposure is using antioxidants. In this paper, a novel C~60~โmethionine derivate (FMD), a fullerene molecule modified with methionine, was synthesized. The protective effect of FMD on leadโexposed human SHโSY5Y neuroblastoma cells was investigated. In this research, after incubating with 500โยตm Pb acetate alone for 72โh, the cells had undergone a series of biological changes including viability loss, apoptotic death, the depletion of glutathione (GSH), the peroxidation of membrane lipid and DNA damage. Pretreatment with FMD before lead exposure could improve cell survival, increase the GSH level, reduce malondialdehyde content and attenuate DNA damage without obvious toxicity. In addition, the protective effects of FMD were proven to be greater than those of other two C~60~โamino acid derivates, ฮฒโalanine C~60~ derivate and cystine C~60~ derivate, which have been confirmed in our previous work to be able to protect rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells from hydrogen dioxideโinduced oxidative injuries. These observations suggest that FMD may serve as a potential antioxidative and neuroprotective agent in the prevention of lead intoxication. Copyright ยฉ 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.