Protective effects of amla on oxidative stress and toxicity in rats challenged with dimethyl hydrazine

The protective effects of amla on oxidative stress and toxicity in rats challenged with dimethyl hydrazine (DMH) were studied. Experiments involving administration of amla at 5% and 10% levels with simultaneous administration of DMH were studied. Amla at both concentrations increased the hepatic GSH and reduced the conjugated dienes. The DMH-induced increase in hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) was reduced by amla. The co-administration of DMH and 10% amla enhanced the catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and superoxide dismutase activities in liver. In addition, amla at 10% level per se increased the hepatic ascorbic acid, glutathione (GSH), and antioxidant enzymes while reducing the conjugated dienes, elucidating the protective effect of amla. Amla elevated the colonic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PDH) activity at the 10% level of feeding. The increased GSH associated with GSH-Px may help in reducing the formation of oxidant stress, as observed by the decrease in MDA after amla incorporation. The observed increase in NADPH-dependent glutathione reductase was effective especially in maintaining cellular homeostasis of GSH. It was noted that in rats treated with DMH and fed with 10% amla, the micronuclei formation was reduced by 58% as compared to DMH injected ones. The activity of γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, which was increased significantly (P < 0.001) in kidney upon DMH injection, was reduced by 50% on feeding. amla. The results of this study suggest that amla has the ability to detoxify the DMH partly by enhancing the multicomponent antioxidant system in the rat.