Response of Oxidative Enzymes to Hibiscus sabdarriffa L. anthocyanins Treatment in Cadmium-exposed Rats

Abstract

Background: Animal studies on the effect of cadmium on aldehyde oxidase (AO), xanthine oxidase (XO), and sulphite oxidase (SO) are few and despite the huge potentials of anthocyanins in ameliorating Cd toxicity, reports on the response of these enzymes in Cd-exposed rats treated with anthocyanins are scarce. Therefore, this was designed to investigate the response of oxidative enzymes to Hibiscus sabdarriffa L. anthocyanins (HSA) treatment in cadmium-exposed rats. Anthocyanins were extracted from H. sabdariffa calyces using standard methods. One hundred and twenty six adult male wistar rats were used for the study. They were divided into eighteen (18) groups with seven rats in each group. The experimental groupings were: A: Control, B: Cd, C: HS aqueous extract, D: HSA, E: HSA Pre-Cd and F: HSA Post-Cd, with groups D-F having sub-groups of high and low doses. The rats were treated for two experimental periods: 5 days (acute) and 15 days (sub-chronic), after which they were sacrificed for biochemical analysis. Results: Exposure to Cd caused significant reduction in the activities of AO, XO and SO in the plasma, epididymis, liver, kidney, prostrate and testis. However, pre-treatment and post-treatment of Cd-exposed rats with H. sabdariffa anthocyanins significantly (p>0.05) reversed the toxic effects of Cd-exposure in most of the tissues and parameters examined. This effect was seen to be dose and duration of exposure dependent as well as both curative and protective. However pretreatment and high doses of HSA resulted in higher induction of the activity of oxidative enzymes. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the administation of H. sabdariffa anthocyanins can induce the activities of oxidative enzymes, which are required to counter the toxic effects of xenobiotics and heavy metals such as Cd.