Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Chemical Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia
  • 4 Human Genome Centre, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia
  • 5 Department of Neurosciences, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia
Oxid Med Cell Longev, 2017;2017:4605782.
PMID: 28127418 DOI: 10.1155/2017/4605782

Abstract

Paraquat (PQ) is a dopaminergic neurotoxin and a well-known pneumotoxicant that exerts its toxic effect via oxidative stress-mediated cellular injuries. This study investigated the protective effects of Tualang honey against PQ-induced toxicity in the midbrain and lungs of rats. The rats were orally treated with distilled water (2 mL/kg/day), Tualang honey (1.0 g/kg/day), or ubiquinol (0.2 g/kg/day) throughout the experimental period. Two weeks after the respective treatments, the rats were injected intraperitoneally with saline (1 mL/kg/week) or PQ (10 mg/kg/week) once per week for four consecutive weeks. After four weekly exposures to PQ, the glutathione peroxidase activity and the number of tyrosine-hydroxylase immunopositive neurons in the midbrain were significantly decreased in animals from group PQ (p < 0.05). The lungs of animals from group PQ showed significantly decreased activity of superoxide dismutase and glutathione-S-transferase. Treatment with Tualang honey ameliorated the toxic effects observed in the midbrain and lungs. The beneficial effects of Tualang honey were comparable to those of ubiquinol, which was used as a positive control. These findings suggest that treatment with Tualang honey may protect against PQ-induced toxicity in the rat midbrain and lung.

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