Hypolipidaemic and antioxidant effects of fruits of Musa AAA (Chenkadali) in alloxan induced diabetic rats.

Hypolipidaemic and antioxidant effects of ethanol extract of mature green fruits of Musa AAA (Chenkadali) was evaluated in alloxan induced diabetic rats. The effect of extract at two doses, 500 mg/kg body weight and 1000 mg/kg body weight was analysed and compared with a standard drug, glibenclamide. Rats administered with alloxan showed significantly increased levels of serum triacylglycerol, total cholesterol and alanine amino transferase (ALT) activity. Lipid peroxides increased significantly while reduced glutathione (GSH) decreased considerably in liver and pancreas. Oral administration of the ethanol extract of fruits of Musa AAA (Chenkadali) significantly decreased the levels of serum triacylglycerol, cholesterol and ALT activity. Significant decrease was also observed in the level of lipid peroxides while GSH content increased substantially in liver and pancreas. The effect was dose independent and rats treated with 500 mg/kg body weight showed comparable levels of serum triacylglycerol, cholesterol, ALT activity and liver lipid peroxides to that of normal control and glibenclamide treated groups. Although, there was no significant difference, treatment with 500 mg/kg body weight of the extract showed a higher content of GSH and lower level of lipid peroxides in pancreas compared with glibenclamide. Histopathological examination of pancreas and liver revealed regeneration of islet cells and hepatocytes respectively, which correlate with the biochemical findings. The present study shows that ethanol extract of mature green fruits of Musa AAA (Chenkadali) has antioxidant and hypolipidaemic properties and may be used for treating diabetes mellitus.

Protective effect of Piper longum Linn. on monosodium glutamate induced oxidative stress in rats.

Protective effect of ethanol extract of Piper longum Linn. against monosodium glutamate (MSG) induced toxicity was studied. Rats, orally administered with MSG at a dose of 8 mg/g body weight for 20 consecutive days, showed an increase in liver weight and rate of lipid peroxidation. Glutathione (GSH) in serum, liver and kidney showed decreased concentration. Significant increase was noticed in activities of serum alanine amino transferase (ALT) and aspartate amino transferase (AST), levels of serum triacylglycerol, total cholesterol and urea. Histopathological examination of liver and kidney showed central venous congestion, diffuse degeneration and necrosis of hepatocytes in para cortical and midzonal areas of liver and diffuse cortical tubular degeneration of kidney. Oral administration of ethanol extract of P. longum fruits at 300 mg/kg body weight along with MSG significantly reduced the levels of lipid peroxides in serum, liver and kidney, serum AST activity, serum levels of triacylglycerol and total cholesterol. Though, there was an increase in the level of GSH in tissues it was not significant. However, the treatment failed to reduce the levels of ALT and urea. Examination of tissue sections also exhibited normal histological architecture of both the organs. The present study revealed that administration of P. longum provided significant protection to liver and kidney from the oxidative stress of MSG, though the dose rate was not sufficient to provide a complete protection.

Amelioration of heat stress induced disturbances of antioxidant defense system in chicken by brahma rasayana.

Since the range of comfort zone or thermo neutral zone of domestic chickens is narrow, they become easily susceptible to heat and cold environmental stress. We evaluated Brahma Rasayana (BR) supplementation on concentrations of certain oxidative stress markers associated with heat stress. A total of 48 egg type male chickens of local strain were divided into six groups (n = 8) for the study. Three groups were fed with BR orally at the rate of 2 g/kg bw daily for 10 days prior to and during the period of experiment. Two of the four groups that were exposed to heat stress (HST i.e. to a temperature of 40 +/- 1 degrees C and relative humidity of 80 +/- 5% in an environmental chamber) for 4 h daily for 5 or 10 days, received BR orally. The other two groups remained as BR treated and untreated non-heat stressed (NHST) controls. There was a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the activities of antioxidant enzymes in blood such as catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), as well as liver CAT, glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and glutathione reductase (GR) in NHST-BR treated and HST-BR treated (both 5 and 10 days) chickens when compared with untreated controls. A great deal of significant (P < 0.05) variations were seen in serum and liver reduced glutathione (GSH) concentration in NHST-BR treated and HST-BR treated (both 5 and 10 days) chickens. Serum and liver lipid peroxidation levels were found to be significantly (P < 0.05) higher in HST-untreated (both 5 and 10 days) chickens when compared with other groups. Thus BR supplementation during HST brings about enhanced action of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, which nullified the undesired side effects of free radicals that are generated during HST.