Metabolic processes in the organism of animals under the action of plant extract

Abstract

The possibility of increasing metabolism and resistance in an organism of animals under the influence of biologically active substances of natural origin is considered in the paper. In the current study, we investigated the effect of 40% ethanolic extract of common nettle (Urtica dioica L.) on hematologic indexes (hemoglobin concentration, erythrocytes and leukocytes content), protein metabolism (total protein, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase activities (ALT)), glutathione metabolism (peroxidase (GP), glutathione reductase (GR) and reduced glutathione content (GSH)), antioxidant defense systems (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT)), and indicators of free radical processes (lipid hydroperoxidation products (LHP), TBA-active products and carbonyl groups of protein (CP)) in the blood and tissues of normal and adrenalin-stressed rats. White Wistar rats (male) with body weight 180–200 g were used in the experiments. The animals were divided into 4 groups (control and 3 experimental), each containing 7 animals. The animals of experimental groups D2 and D3 received 40% ethanolic extract of common nettle in a dose of 5 mL/kg of body weight during 4 weeks. After 29 days of the experiment, the animals of D1 and D3 groups were intramuscularly administered 0.1% solution of adrenaline hydrochloride at a dose of 1 mg/kg of body weight. One day after the administration of adrenaline, the animals were decapitated under ether anesthesia. The objects of the study were blood and homogenates of liver, heart, and kidneys of the rats. Our results have shown that adrenaline stress causes a decrease in the concentration of hemoglobin, LHP, SOD activity and increase in activities of AST, GP, GR, and GSH content in the blood of rats. Stress induced by adrenaline was accompanied by decrease in CP content, activities of SOD, CAT, and increase in the glutathione chain of antioxidant defense system in the liver of the animals while in the heart and kidneys, there was an increase in oxidative stress parameters and decrease in antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, CAT, GP, GR). The administration of ethanolic extract of nettle caused an increase within the physiological range in the erythrocytes and leucocytes content, hemoglobin concentration, and normalization of protein metabolism (decrease in the activity of AST and increase in protein concentration) in the blood of the stressed rats. The activation of the antioxidant defense system (increase in activities of SOD, GP, CAT, GR) and inhibition of free radical processes (decrease in concentration of LHP, TBA-active products and CP) was observed in the tissues of animals of D2 and D3 groups. Our results suggested that using a complex of biologically active substances of the common nettle ethanolic extract prevents metabolic disorders and stresses of different etiology through the activation of the antioxidant defense system, the normalization of protein metabolism and stimulation of hematopoiesis both in normal and stressed rats.