Abstract

THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF ALOE VERA AGAINST RADIATION AND CADMIUM INDUCED CHANGES IN THE BRAIN, KIDNEY AND LIVER OF SWISS ALBINO MICE

R.K.Purohit*, Sharvan Lal Bhati, Om Kanwar, Manisha Agarwal, Aruna Chakrawartiand Dinesh Meena

ABSTRACT

Aloe barbadensis Mill, commonly known as Guar patha or Ghee patha, is perhaps the most important medicinal plant in the Indian traditional system of medicine, the Ayurveda. Several parts of the plant are used to treat a variety of diseases, but the most important is the leaf. It is rich in vitamins A, E and C (as antioxidant), minerals, enzymes, amino acids. Herbal plants are potential source of phytochemicals of pharmaceutical interest, act as antioxidants, anticarcinogenic and antimicrobial, preclinical studies. Furthermore, experimental studies have reported that Aloe and some of its phytochemicals also exhibit radiomodulatory, chemoprotective, free radical scavenging and immunomodulatory activities. The exposure of living system to ionizing radiations causes a variety of damages to various systems due to generation of free radicals and reactive oxygen species. Cadmium is reported to be one of the most toxic elements in geological cycles. Various studies showed the prevention of radiation induced suppressions of immunity by Aloe vera. Having this unique properties Aloe vera could be used as protector against radiation and cadmium. Therefore, present study was planned to evaluate the protective efficacy of Aloe vera against radiation and cadmium induced changes in Swiss albino mice. For this purpose six to eight weeks old mice were selected and divided into seven groups on the basis of radiation, cadmium, combined treatment and drug treated. All biochemical parameters of the control groups were compared with the respective experimental groups. An increase in value of total proteins, glycogen, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase and RNA was observed up to day 14 in non drug treated group and day 7 in the Aloe vera treated groups thereafter value declined up to day 28 without reaching the normal, whereas the value of cholesterol and DNA showed a decreasing trend. The biochemical finding indicated the drug treated section of living tissue (kidney, liver and brain) showed slightly / no degenerative changes. The drug treated groups demonstrating the ability of Aloe vera to inhibit oxidative stress thus preventing tissue injury.

Keywords: Mice, Aloe vera, Radiation, Cadmium.