Amaranthus viridis Linn extract ameliorates isoproterenol-induced cardiac toxicity in rats by stabilizing circulatory antioxidant system

Ganapathy Saravanan, Ponnusamy Ponmurugan

Abstract
The present study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant role of Amaranthus viridis Linn against isoproterenol (ISO) induced oxidative damage in plasma and erythrocytes of rats. Subcutaneous injection of ISO to rats for 2 consecutive days offered significant increase in the level of lipid peroxidation products, decreased the activities of antioxidant enzymes and vitamin C, vitamin E and reduced glutathione. The administration of Amaranthus viridis Linn (300 mg/kg body weight) increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes and reduced the concentration of lipid peroxidation products. Concentration of vitamin C, vitamin E and reduced glutathione was also high in A.viridis pretreated rats. The effect produced by A.viridis was compared with α- tocopherol. The present findings have demonstrated that the cardioprotective effects of A.viridis in ISO-induced oxidative damage may be due to an augmentation of the endogenous antioxidants and inhibition of lipid peroxidation.

Key words: Antioxidants; Isoproterenol; Lipid peroxides