Antioxidant potential of rat liver in experimental infection with Fasciola hepatica

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to assess the antioxidant properties of rat liver in the course of acute and chronic fasciolosis. Wistar rats were infected per os with 30 metacercariae of Fasciola hepatica. Liver activities of antioxidant enzymes and concentrations of non-enzymatic antioxidants were determined at 4, 7, and 10 weeks post-infection. Activities of superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn-SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and glutathione reductase (GSSG-R) were decreased, catalase (CAT) activity was increased and non-enzymatic antioxidant concentrations (reduced glutathione, vitamins C, E and A) were reduced simultaneously with enhancement of lipid peroxidation processes as evidenced by increased levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE). Changes in the antioxidant abilities of the liver and in the phospholipid structure of the cell membrane were accompanied by rising activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) as markers of liver damage.

Biochemical assessment of oxidative status versus liver enzymes in patients with chronic fascioliasis

“…Infection with F. hepatica was accompanied by rising level of the superoxide radicals which opens a way to act as precursor of other ROS (Abo-Shousha et al 1999;Oberley and Oberley 1997). In our study erythrocyte antioxidant enzyme activities of SOD was lower in chronic patients suffering F. gigantica compared to control, this goes with the previous study done by Kolodziejczyk et al (2005) who confirmed that when the activity of SOD is decreased it leads to elevated content of superoxide anions and indicated a decrease in activities of the main antioxidant enzymes; SOD, GPX and reduction in content of nonenzymatic antioxidants (Kolodziejczyk et al 2005).…”

“…Changes in the antioxidant abilities of the liver and in the phospholipid structure of the cell membrane were accompanied by rising activities of ALT and AST as markers of liver damage (Kolodziejczyk et al 2005). In the present study, there was a highly significant difference between cases and controls as regard AST and a significant difference as regard ALT.…”

“…It was earlier shown that oxidants generated in the liver may activate enzyme gene expression through antioxidant responsive elements (Kolodziejczyk et al 2005); this may explain the increase in CAT activity AUC area under curve, SEM standard error of mean, CI confidence interval, P probability value, HS highly significant ** P \ 0.001 highly significant (HS); * P \ 0.05 significant (S); P [ 0.05 non significant (NS) observed. There was a highly significant difference between cases and controls as regard CAT, SOD, GPX; SOD was indirectly correlated with CAT and directly correlated with GPX.…”

“…Migration of juvenile forms of Fasciola into the host's liver is accompanied by an inflammatory reaction followed by fibrosis and cirrhosis (Dawes 1963;Kolodziejczyk et al 2005;WHO 1995). The high chemical reactivity leads to reactions with almost all constituents of the cell, including proteins, lipids, and DNA.…”

Evaluation of oxidative status in patients with <i>Fasciola hepatica</i> infection

“…5 Migration of juvenile forms of F. hepatica into the host's liver is accompanied by an inflammatory reaction followed by fibrosis and cirrhosis. 6 Some oxidative parameters have been studied in few human and animal patients with F. hepatica. 6,7,8 In this study, we evaluated the oxidative status in patients with F. hepatica and in healthy controls via measurement of serum oxidative stress markers, including total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total oxidative status (TOS), oxidative stress index (OSI), and catalase.…”