BACKGROUND: The role of sulfur-containing drugs, disulfiram (DSF) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), in alleviating neuroinflammation is poorly understood. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of DSF and NAC on memory and on the metabolism of L-cysteine and inflammation-related parameters in the cerebral cortex of rats in a model of neuroinflammation induced by the administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). METHODS: All the treatments were administered intraperitoneally for 10 days (LPS at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg b.w., DSF at a dose of 100 mg/kg b.w, and NAC at a dose of 100 mg/kg b.w.). Behavior was evaluated by the novel object recognition (NOR) test and object location (OL) test, and the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was assayed to evaluate neuronal functioning. Cerebral cortex homogenates were tested for hydrogen sulfide (H RESULTS: Neither DSF nor NAC alleviated LPS-induced memory disorders estimated by the NOR test and OL test. The studied compounds also did not affect significantly the levels of BDNF, ROS, NO, H CONCLUSIONS: Our study did not confirm the suggested potential of DSF and NAC to correct memory disorders
however, it corroborated the notion that they reduced oxidative stress induced by LPS by increasing the NPSH level. Additionally, our study showed an increase in sulfate concentration in the brain tissues after LPS treatment, which means the upregulation of sulfite and sulfate production in inflammatory conditions.