Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, UKMMC, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Cheras, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. kamisah_y@yahoo.com
  • 2 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, UKMMC, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Cheras, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 3 Division of Pathology, School of Medicine, International Medical University, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 4 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, UKMMC, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 5 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, UKMMC, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 6 Faculty of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences, Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia
J Physiol Biochem, 2015 Dec;71(4):659-67.
PMID: 26403767 DOI: 10.1007/s13105-015-0431-y

Abstract

Oxidative stress plays an important role in cardiovascular diseases. The study investigated the effects of dietary palm tocotrienol-rich fraction on homocysteine metabolism in rats fed a high-methionine diet. Forty-two male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to six groups. Five groups were fed with high-methionine diet (1%) for 10 weeks. Groups 2 to 5 were also given dietary folate (8 mg/kg) and three doses of palm tocotrienol-rich fraction (30, 60 and 150 mg/kg) from week 6 to week 10. The last group was only given basal rat chow. High-methionine diet increased plasma homocysteine after 10 weeks, which was prevented by the supplementations of folate and high-dose palm tocotrienol-rich fraction. Hepatic S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) content was unaffected in all groups but S-adenosyl homocysteine (SAH) content was reduced in the folate group. Folate supplementation increased the SAM/SAH ratio, while in the palm tocotrienol-rich fraction groups, the ratio was lower compared with the folate. Augmented activity of hepatic cystathionine β-synthase and lipid peroxidation content by high-methionine diet was inhibited by palm tocotrienol-rich fraction supplementations (moderate and high doses), but not by folate. The supplemented groups had lower hepatic lipid peroxidation than the high-methionine diet. In conclusion, palm tocotrienol-rich fraction reduced high-methionine-induced hyperhomocysteinaemia possibly by reducing hepatic oxidative stress in high-methionine-fed rats. It may also exert a direct inhibitory effect on hepatic cystathionine β-synthase.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.