Prophylactic and therapeutic potential of tender coconut water intervention on antioxidant status in electron beam irradiated Swiss albino mice

ABSTRACT

Ionizing radiation induces oxidative stress due to free radicals production. The in vitro study has shown that tender coconut water (TCW) of West Coast tall variety exhibits potent antioxidant property. Here, we attempted to evaluate the potency of TCW in reducing radiation induced oxidative stress in the mice model. The LD50/30 dose of electron beam radiation (EBR) for Swiss albino mice was assessed and was found to be 9.33Gy. Therefore, a sublethal dose of 6Gy was selected for further intervention studies to assess the levels of antioxidants. To evaluate the effective dose, the mice were irradiated with a lethal dose of 10Gy with the oral intervention of 50, 100 and 200 µL of TCW/20 g body wt. of mice. Findings of the study suggest that 100 µL/20 g body wt. was found to be effective in decreasing the mortality of irradiated mice. Further, intervention with TCW significantly increased the antioxidant levels compared to that of radiation control group. The results suggest that TCW exhibits radioprotective activity by potentiating the antioxidant levels in mice exposed to a sublethal dose of whole body EBR.