Effect of ascorbic acid on reduced glutathione level in arsenic-loaded isolated liver tissues of rat

Abstract

Isolated liver tissues of rat were loaded with trivalent arsenic and were exposed in presence and absence of ascorbic acid. The amount of reduced glutathione (GSH) in normal liver tissue was 52.0 ± 0.2 ?g/g protein. Addition of arsenic to the tissues reduced the amount of GSH to 11.5 ± 0.3 ?g/g protein. But when the arsenic loaded liver tissues were incubated with ascorbic acid at the concentration of 20 ?g/ml, the amount of GSH was 14.2 ± 0.1 ?g/g protein. There was 22.6% increase of GSH level which was statistically significant (p<0.001) when compared with arsenic alone. This study suggests that ascorbic acid increased the GSH level in arsenic-treated rat's liver.

Keywords

• Arsenic
• Ascorbic acid
• Gluthathione
• Liver
• Rat