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The present study reports the antioxidant activity of Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), family Elaegnaceae, on chromium induced oxidative stress in male albino rats. Oxidative stress was induced in the rats by force-feeding of potassium dichromate equivalent to a dose of 30 mg/kg body weight (BW) of chromium(VI) for 30 days. Administration of chromium decreased the body weight and increased organ to body weight ratio significantly. Chromium treatment significantly decreased reduced glutathione (GSH), and increased malondialdehyde (MDA) and creatine phosphokinase (CPK) levels; further it also enhanced glutamate oxaloacetate transferase (GOT) and glutamate pyruvate transferase (GPT) levels in the serum. Different doses of the alcoholic leaf extract of Seabuckthorn were evaluated for the protection against the chromium induced oxidative stress. The results show that the leaf extract at a concentration of 100 and 250 mg/kg BW protected the animals from the chromium induced oxidative injury significantly.

The effect of Kombucha tea (KT) on oxidative stress induced changes in rats subjected to chromate treatment are reported. KT feeding alone did not show any significant change in malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) levels, but did enhance humoral response and delayed type of hypersensitivity (DTH) response appreciably over control animals. Chromate treatment significantly enhanced plasma and tissue MDA levels, decreased DTH response considerably, enhanced glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities; however, no change in GSH, superoxide dismutase and antibody titres was noticed. KT feeding completely reversed the chromate-induced changes. These results show that Kombucha tea has potent anti-oxidant and immunopotentiating activities.

The effect of exposure to hypoxia on macrophage activity, lymphocyte function and oxidative stress was investigated. Hypoxia enhanced peritoneal macrophage activity as revealed by enhanced phagocytosis and free radical production. There was no significant change in antibody titres to sheep red blood cells in either serum or spleen during hypoxia. However, there was a considerable reduction in the delayed-type hypersensitivity response to sheep red blood cells, indicating the impairment of T-cell activity. Hypoxia decreased the blood glutathione (reduced) level and increased plasma malondialdehyde by a factor of about 2. It is therefore speculated that hypoxia imposes an oxidative stress leading to decreased T-cell acivity.

To evaluate the effect of oral administration of Kombucha tea (K-tea) on lead induced oxidative stress.Sprague Dawley rats were administered 1 mL of 3.8% lead acetate solution daily alone or in combination with K-tea orally for 45 d, and the antioxidant status and lipid peroxidation were evaluated.Oral administration of lead acetate to rats enhanced lipid peroxidation and release of creatine phosphokinase and decreased levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) and antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, SOD and glutathione peroxidase, GPx). Lead treatment did not alter humoral immunity, but inhibited DTH response when compared to the control. Lead administration also increased DNA fragmentation in liver. Oral administration of Kombucha tea to rats exposed to lead decreased lipid peroxidation and DNA damage with a concomitant increase in the reduced glutathione level and GPx activity. Kombucha tea supplementation relieved the lead induced immunosuppression to appreciable levels.The results suggest that K-tea has potent antioxidant and immunomodulating properties.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of oral glutamic acid supplementation in promoting hypoxic tolerance.The experiments were conducted in albino rats by exposing them to three levels of hypoxia in a simulated environment for varying periods of time. The parameters studied include: gasping time at 35,000 ft (10,668 m), food and water intake, and heart to body weight (b.w.) ratio at 25,000 ft (7620 m), tolerance to composite stress at 15,000 ft (4572 m) and biodistribution of glutamate (glu).Supplementation of Glu (27 mg x kg(-1) b.w.) as glutamic acid dissolved in normal saline resulted in 4.8 times enhanced hypoxic tolerance (time taken for appearance of first gasp), 23% body weight gain and 24% increase in food consumption over control during hypoxia. When animals were subjected to composite stress of cold, hypoxia and restraint (CHR), the Glu fed animals showed higher resistance to fall in rectal temperature than the control group. Hypoxia significantly enhanced heart to body weight ratio compared with control, and Glu supplementation reduced and brought it down to that of control.The study reveals that Glu in optimal doses may be a conditionally essential amino acid resulting in enhanced tolerance to hypoxia and cold.

High altitude stress leads to lipid peroxidation and free radical formation which results in cell membrane damage in organs and tissues, and associated mountain diseases. This paper discusses the changes in biochemical parameters and antibody response on feeding glutamate to male albino Sprague Dawley rats under hypoxic stress. Exposure of rats to simulated hypoxia at 7576 m, for 6 h daily for 5 consecutive days, in an animal decompression chamber at 32 +/- 2 degrees C resulted in an increase in plasma malondialdehyde level with a concomitant decrease in blood glutathione (reduced) level. Supplementation of glutamate orally at an optimal dose (27 mg/kg body weight) in male albino rats under hypoxia enhanced glutathione level and decreased malondialdehyde concentration significantly. Glutamate feeding improved total plasma protein and glucose levels under hypoxia. The activities of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) and the urea level remained elevated on glutamate supplementation under hypoxia. Glutamate supplementation increased the humoral response against sheep red blood cells (antibody titre). These results indicate a possible utility of glutamate in the amelioration of hypoxia-induced oxidative stress.

Hypoxia results in body weight loss due to anorexia and hypophagia and reduced human performance. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the role of oral glutamate administration with food and water in improvement in hypoxic tolerance, if any. The placebo controlled study revealed that supplementation of optimal dose of glutamate (Glu) promoted hypoxic tolerance in male Sprague Dawley Albino rats fed one dose daily for 5 days and exposed to continuous intermittent hypoxia of 6 hrs per day at 10,668m in an animal exposure chamber. Effect of varying dose of Glu on body weight (bw),food intake and water uptake were studied which revealed the optimal dose of Glu to be 27mgKg bw. Oral feeding of Glu resulted in improved tolerance of combined stress of cold and hypoxia as measured by fall in rectal temperature from 37’C to 23’C and faster rewarming. It enhanced 5.8 times hypoxic tolerance 36% bw gain and 24% food intake in hypoxia possibly by acting as a conditionally essential amino acid under hypoxia.

Summary Pituitary apoplexy or spontaneous pituitary necrosis is an ill-understood clinical syndrome. It may occur as a neurological emergency requiring urgent interference in a patient with a known pituitary dysfunction or it may be responsible for drawing attention to an as yet unrecognized pituitary pathology. It has a bizarre clinical profile and an unpredictable neurological and endocrine course. Patients may die at once or may recover with or without endocrine/neurological deficit. Six cases of pituitary apoplexy with varied clinical presentation are cited.

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were maintained on cholesterol and garlic oil for 12 weeks. Cholesterol induced hyperlipidemia was controlled by garlic feeding. Garlic treatment did not alter the concentrations of circulating thyroid hormones and thyroidal uptake of radioiodine. The results indicate that the hypolipidemic effect of garlic is probably not mediated through the thyroid.