Protective Effects of Astaxanthin against Oxidative Damage of the Kidney and Heart Tissues in D-galactose Induced Aging Rats
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Abstract:
The protective effects of astaxanthin against oxidative damage of the kidney and heart tissues in aging rats were investigated through establishing a D-galactose-induced aging animal model. The experiments included a blank group, model group, low-, medium- and high-dose astaxanthin (5, 10, 15 mg/kg) groups, and metformin (MET) positive control group. The renal and cardiac coefficients were measured, along with the indexes such as the contents of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) in the kidney and heart tissues. The H&E (hematoxylin-eosin) stained pathological tissue sections were examined. The results showed that compared with the model group, astaxanthin could ameliorate the decreases of the renal and cardiac coefficients caused by D-galactose, reduce the contents of MDA in the kidney and heart tissues, and significantly increase the activities of SOD, CAT and GSH-Px. In the high-dose group (15 mg/kg), the MDA contents in the kidney and heart of rats significantly decreased by 70.48% and 38.02% (p<0.01), and the activities of SOD, CAT and GSH-Px increased by 37.22%, 43.73% and 52.01% (p<0.01), respectively, in the kidney, and increased by 85.47%, 52.08% and 64.77% (p<0.01), respectively, in the heart. The examination of the pathological sections showed that astaxanthin could effectively alleviate oxidative damage of the kidney and heart tissues. These results suggested that astaxanthin can inhibit the damage of kidney and heart tissues in aging rats by alleviating oxidative stress, and the mechanism may be related to antioxidant actions.
