Abstract

Even though the toxic effects of lead compounds had been studied over many years, inconsistent results have been obtained about their oxidative stress in the testes of adult rats. Lead acetate (20 mg/kg) alters the histology of testes as well as enhances lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide production in both serum and testes with concomitant reduction in glutathione (GSH) and antioxidant enzymes as catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Moreover, lead acetate induced DNA fragmentation in testes of rats. Treatment of rats with flaxseed oil (1000 mg/kg) resulted in marked improvement in all studied parameters. On the basis of the aforementioned results, it can be hypothesized that flaxseed oil is a promising natural product to protect against lead acetate induced oxidative stress and toxicity in rats.

Key words: Lead, flaxseed oil, oxidative stress, testes, rat.

Abbreviation

NO, Nitric oxide; MDA, malondialdehyde; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; GSH, glutathione; TBARS, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances; DHBS, 3,5-dichloro-2-hydroxybenzene sulfonic acid; AAP, 4-aminophenazone; SOD, superoxide dismutase; GST, glutathione-S-transferase,GPx, glutathione peroxidase; GSSG, oxidized glutathione; O.D, optical density;CAT, catalase; GR, glutathione reductase.