ABSTRACT
The antioxidant effects of Ocimum sanctum in experimental streptozocin-induced diabetic rats was evaluated in this study. Streptozocin, 55 mg kg(-1) body weight, was injected intraperitoneally once daily for 30 days to induce diabetes mellitus in rats. Streptozocin-induced diabetic rats were orally treated with an aqueous extract of O. sanctum once daily for 30 days. After the experimental period, thiobarbituric acid reacting substances (TBARS) and antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase were measured. Administration of O. sanctum to streptozocin-induced diabetic rats for 30 days significantly reduced the plasma level of TBARS and improved the status of the antioxidant enzymes catalase, SOD and glutathione peroxidase in vital organs such as the liver and kidney. These results confirmed that the Indian medicinal plant O. sanctum has a protective effect and it may be useful in controlling complications resulting from diabetes.
Subject(s)
Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental/drug therapy , Lipid Peroxidation/drug effects , Ocimum/chemistry , Plant Extracts/therapeutic use , Animals , Catalase/metabolism , Glutathione Peroxidase/metabolism , Oxidation-Reduction/drug effects , Plant Extracts/chemistry , Rats , Superoxide Dismutase/metabolism , Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances/metabolismABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Vitamin C is a water-soluble chain-breaking antioxidant that has beneficial effects on lipid-metabolizing enzymes. In the present study, the level of thiobarbituric acid (TBA) substances and antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase and glutathione-S-transferase were assayed. METHODS: The level of TBA substances and antioxidant enzymes was determined in plasma and RBC hemolysates, respectively, in 60 postmenopausal women with breast cancer. RESULTS: The data obtained from the study revealed that the levels of TBA and the antioxidant enzymes catalase, SOD, glutathine peroxidase and glutathine-S-transferse were significantly normalized by vitamin C treatment in the RBC hemolysate. CONCLUSION: The results compared vitamin C-treated breast cancer patients with normal individuals and showed that co-administration of vitamin C is more beneficial in breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal/therapeutic use , Antioxidants/metabolism , Ascorbic Acid/therapeutic use , Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy , Lipid Peroxidation/drug effects , Tamoxifen/therapeutic use , Breast Neoplasms/metabolism , Catalase/metabolism , Erythrocytes/metabolism , Female , Glutathione/blood , Glutathione/metabolism , Glutathione Peroxidase/blood , Glutathione Peroxidase/metabolism , Glutathione Transferase/blood , Glutathione Transferase/metabolism , Humans , Oxidative Stress/drug effects , Superoxide Dismutase/blood , Superoxide Dismutase/metabolism , Thiobarbiturates/blood , Vitamin E/blood , Vitamins/therapeutic useABSTRACT
Combined application of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil (CMF) has been followed in the treatment of breast cancer. The combined effect of CMF and vitamin C on plasma lipid and lipoprotein is important, since vitamin C encumbers the lipid abnormalities instigated by CMF. Hence, the study was launched to appraise the salubrious role of vitamin C in CMF administered fibrosarcoma-bearing rats. Fibrosarcoma cell line-induced rats were treated with CMF (cyclophosphamide 10 mg/kg b.w., methotrexate 1 mg/kg b.w., 5-fluorouracil 10 mg/kg b.w. and vitamin C 200 mg/kg b.w.) individually and in combination for 120 days. The concentration of plasma lipids and lipoprotein was determined in control and experimental rats. The untreated as well as CMF administered fibrosarcoma-bearing rats divulged significantly in increased levels of plasma total cholesterol, triglycerides, phospholipids, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, as compared with their respective control animals. Whereas ester and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels exhibited a marked decrease in these animals. However, these lipid abnormalities were found to be moderated by co-administration of vitamin C. These results suggested that some clinical entanglement of CMF was refrained by co-administration of vitamin C in tumor stress condition.
