Journal
NUTRIENTS
Volume 6, Issue 12, Pages 5572-5582Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/nu6125572
Keywords
vitamin A; rat model; oxidative stress; retinol; toxicity; nutrition
Categories
Funding
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) [470973/2012-9]
- Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)
- Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS)
- Pro-Reitoria de Pesquisa da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (PROPESQ/UFRGS), Brazil
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Despite the antioxidant potential of vitamin A, recent studies reported that chronic retinol ester supplementation can also exert pro-oxidant effects and neurotoxicity in vivo and raises the mortality rates among healthy subjects. Our aim was to find evidence for a safer (i.e., less toxic) molecule with provitamin A activity. Therefore, we investigated whether chronic supplementation of healthy Wistar rats with beta-carotene (0.6, 3, and 6 mg/kg/day) would demonstrate antioxidant characteristics without leading to pro-oxidant side effects in the brain. Total reactive antioxidant potential (TRAP), thiobarbituric reactive species level (TBARS), and total reduced thiol content (SH) were evaluated in plasma. TBARS and SH were additionally evaluated in selected brain regions together with superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity. In the present study, we show that beta-carotene is able to exert antioxidant activity in plasma without triggering pro-oxidant events in the brain, providing evidence that may justify its further evaluation as a safer nutritional supplement with provitamin A activity.
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