Red fruit oil supplementation fails to prevent oxidative stress in rats

Abstract

BACKGROUND Red fruit oil (RFO) is popular in Indonesia especially in Papua. It is consumed by people for maintaining health and to treat diseases. Red fruit (Pandanus conoideus Lam) oil is reported to contain the antioxidants á-tocoferol and âcarotene. The aim of this study was to confirm the protective effect of RFO against decreased glutathione levels in the plasma and liver of rats induced by 2N-(2-fluorenyl) acetamide (2-FAA). METHODS Wistar male rats weighing 200 ± 20 g were randomly assigned into a control group (receiving distilled water only) and three intervention groups, designated RFO, FAA, and RFO-FAA (n=6 rats per group). RFO was given RFO 10 ì l/g/ BW/day, FAA received fluoroenylacetamide (FAA) at 40ìg/day, while RFOFAA received both RFO and FAA. At 4 weeks blood samples were taken from the tail. At 8 weeks the rats were sacrified for collection of blood and liver tissues. Ellman’s method was employed to determine the parameters of antioxidant glutathione (glutahione sulfhydryl/GSH). One-way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc test were used to compare glutathione levels between groups. RESULTS This study showed that liver and plasma glutathione levels were not significantly lower in the RFO-FAA group than in the FAA group. Glutathione levels were significantly lower in plasma and liver homogenates of the RFO group compared with the control group and were not significantly different from those in the FAA group. CONCLUSION Administration of RFO in rats does not protect against decreased glutathione but is a potential source of oxidative stress.

Keywords

• red fruit oil
• oxidative stress
• n-(2-fluoroenyl) acetamide
• glutathione
• rats