To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study concerning the effect of boric acid (BA) administration on fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). In this study, the aim was to investigate prenatal alcohol-induced oxidative stress on the cerebral cortex of newborn rat pups and assess the protective and beneficial effects of BA supplementation on rats with FAS. Pregnant rats were divided into three groups, namely the control, alcohol and alcohol + boric acid groups. As markers of alcohol-induced oxidative stress in the cerebral cortex of the newborn pups, malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels were measured. Although the MDA levels in the alcohol group were significantly increased compared with those in the control group (P<0.05), the MDA level in the alcohol + boric acid group was shown to be significantly decreased compared with that in the alcohol group (P<0.01). The CAT activity of the alcohol + boric acid group was significantly higher than that in the alcohol group (P<0.05). The GPx activity in the alcohol group was decreased compared with that in the control group (P<0.05). These results demonstrate that alcohol is capable of triggering damage to membranes of the cerebral cortex of rat pups and BA could be influential in antioxidant mechanisms against oxidative stress resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure.
We observed that ethanol is capable of triggering apoptotic cell death in the newborn rat brains. Furthermore, folic acid, betaine, and combined therapy of these supplements may reduce neuroapoptosis related to prenatal alcohol consumption, and might be effective on preventing fetal alcohol syndrome in infants.
We aim to study the effect of low-dose aspirin and kefir on arterial blood pressure measurements and renal apoptosis in unhypertensive rats with 4 weeks salt diet. Forty adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups: control, high-salt (HS) (8.0% NaCl), HS+aspirin (10 mg/kg), HS+kefir (10.0%w/v), HS+aspirin +kefir. We measured sistolic blood pressure (SBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), diastolic pressure, pulse pressure in the rats. Cathepsin B, L, DNA fragmentation and caspase-3 activities were determined from rat kidney tissues and rats clearance of creatinine calculated. Although HS diet increased significantly SBP, MAP, diastolic pressure, pulse pressure parameters compared the control values. They were not as high as accepted hypertension levels. When compared to HS groups, kefir groups significantly decrease Cathepsin B and DNA fragmentation levels. Caspase levels were elevated slightly in other groups according to control group. While, we also found that creatinine clearance was higher in HS+kefir and HS+low-dose aspirin than HS group. Thus, using low-dose aspirin had been approximately decreased of renal function damage. Kefir decreased renal function damage playing as Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor. But, low-dose aspirin together with kefir worsened rat renal function damage. Cathepsin B might play role both apoptosis and prorenin-processing enzyme. But not caspase pathway may be involved in the present HS diet induced apoptosis. In conclusion, kefir and low-dose aspirin used independently protect renal function and renal damage induced by HS diet in rats.
Context: Excess use of alcohol is known to be associated with liver diseases such as fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis. Various practices may be applied to prevent or treat the damage caused by chronic alcoholism. Coprinus comatus (O.F. Mü ll.) Pers. (Agaricaceae) is a macrofungus that has been reported to aid the recovery of murine livers damaged by benzopyrene. Objective: In this study, the possible therapeutic effects of three different doses (50, 100, and 150 mg/kg) of C. comatus polysaccharide (PS) extract were studied in rats subjected to an alcoholic diet. The histological and biochemical results were compared between the control and experimental groups. Materials and methods: Modified Lieber-Decarli's calorie-adjusted liquid alcohol diet was given orally for 60 d. In addition to histopathology, alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), mitochondrial membrane integrity, total cytochrome-c oxidase activity (TotalStCox), total mitochondrial cytochrome-c oxidase activity (TotalMtStCox), and caspase-3 values were used as liver parameters, and liver sections from all experimental groups were examined by electron microscopy. Results: Using histopathological assessment, it was observed that there was a decline in liver hepatocyte vacuolization in the treatment group fed 50 mg PS/kg. The TotalStCox and TotalMtStCox values of this group differed from the EtOH control group (p50.05). Discussion and conclusion: Daily administration of 50 mg/kg of C. comatus PS extract considerably reduced the negative effects of alcohol on liver structure and function.
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