Effect of dexamethasone and Velvet tamarind (Dialium guineense) Fruit Pulp supplementation on maternal serum steroid concentration in Wistar rats

Abstract

Dexamethasone is a synthetic glucocorticoid commonly used for inflammatory disorders such as asthma, allergy, infection and also autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, glomerulonephritis, sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosis (Rhen and Cidlowski ; 2005). Research has shown that Dexamethasone controls reproductive function in both rats and primates by somatic and mental stress(Dong et al. ; 2004) and consequently lead to a decrease in serum concentration of testosterone in males (Hardy et al.; 2005). The anti-inflammatory property of glucocorticoids is based on its ability to suppress the activity of genes that have a major role to play in inflammation such as cytokines and nitric oxide synthase(Barnes,2006). Cytokines particularly, directly stimulates the formation of reactive oxygen species (Corda et al ;2006 ; Ferro et al. ; 1993).that are potent oxidative stress markers. It also