Abstract
The indiscriminate use of carbofuran to improve crop productivity causes adverse effects in nontargets including mammalian systems. The objective of this study was to evaluate carbofuran induced oxidative stress in rat brain stem and its attenuation by curcumin, a herbal product. Out of 6 groups of rats, 2 groups received two different doses of carbofuran, that is, 15 and 30% of LD50, respectively, for 30 days. Out of these, 2 groups receiving same doses of carbofuran were pretreated with curcumin (100 mg/kg body weight). The levels of antioxidants, TBARS, GSH, SOD, catalase, and GST were determined in rat brain stem. The 2 remaining groups served as placebo and curcumin treated, respectively. The data suggested that carbofuran at different doses caused significant alterations in the levels of TBARS and GSH in dose dependent manner. The TBARS and GSH contents were elevated. The activities of SOD, catalase, and GST were significantly inhibited at both doses of carbofuran. The ratio of P/A was also found to be sharply increased. The pretreatment of curcumin exhibited significant protection from carbofuran induced toxicity. The results suggested that carbofuran at sublethal doses was able to induce oxidative stress in rat brain which could be attenuated by curcumin.
Highlights
Carbofuran (2,3-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-7-benzofuranyl methylcarbamate) is an organocarbamate pesticide commonly known as Furadan
The results suggested that carbofuran at sublethal doses was able to induce oxidative stress in rat brain which could be attenuated by curcumin
The evaluation of the impact of carbofuran treatment at sublethal doses and the ameliorative effect of curcumin were monitored by determining the levels of TBARS and GSH in the rat brain tissues
Summary
Carbofuran (2,3-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-7-benzofuranyl methylcarbamate) is an organocarbamate pesticide commonly known as Furadan. Due to the indiscriminate and continuous application and lipophilic nature of carbofuran, its presence has been detected in different environmental components such as soil and water [2], as well as in the mammalian systems like maternal plasma, umbilical cord, and blood of African-American women and new-born babies, respectively [3]. Carbofuran enters the biological systems via ingestion of pesticidecontaminated food and water as well as accidental or occupational poisoning [4] and causes severe toxicity to brain, liver, heart, kidney, and muscles [5,6,7,8]. The application of plant products such as the aqueous extract of Cynodon dactylon and vitamin C may cause attenuation of carbofuran toxicity [9]
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