ABSTRACT
Nicotine has been reported to induce oxidative stress both in vivo and in vitro. The present study was undertaken to examine the effect of nicotine on oxidative metabolism in skeletal muscle fibre types (Type I & Type II) of male albino rats. The animals were divided into two groups: Group-I (control), and Group-II (experimental). The latter received subcutaneous injections at a dose of 0.5 mg/ kg body weight (Experiment-I), 1 mg/kg body weight (Experiment-II), 5 days/week for a period of 8 weeks. The animals were sacrificed after 24 hours of the last treatment, and skeletal muscle fibres such as soleus (SOL), red vastus (RV) and white vastus (WV) were isolated and analyzed. The activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) increased in nicotine-treated rats of both experiment-I, and experiment-II. Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH), malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PDH) were decreased in soleus (SOL), red vastus (RV) and white vastus (WV) skeletal muscle fibres. These findings indicate nicotine-induced oxidative stress in the skeletal muscle fibres of male albino rats.