Preventive effect of carvacrol against oxidative damage in aged rat liver

The present study was designed to investigate the changes in activities of antioxidant enzymes and lipid peroxidation level in the liver of 2, 10- and 20-months old rats, and to see whether these changes are restored to those of the two month old rats after carvacrol treatment. Male rats of 2, 10, and 20 months (n = 10 for each group) were used for all the experiments. The aged rats (10 and 20 months old) were given carvacrol (15 mg/day per body weight) for 30 days. Control animals received an equal volume of vehicle. After the treatment, livers were removed for estimation of superoxide dismutase-SOD, glutathione-S-transferase-GST, catalase-CAT activities and lipid peroxidation level. The present findings determined that normal aging was associated with a significant decrease in the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD; 11.87 +/- 0.6 (2 months old) vs 7.56 +/- 0.1 (20 months old); p < 0.001) in liver, as well as an increase in lipid peroxidation level (MDA; 0.15 +/- 0.01 (2 months old) vs 0.41 +/- 0.01 (20 months old); p < 0.001) in aged rats. Also, the results of this study indicated that carvacrol treatment increased the activities of the antioxidant enzymes in 20 months old animals versus the aged matched control group (SOD; 9.87 +/- 0.4; p < 0.01). Furthermore, carvacrol decreased lipid peroxidation content in 10- and 20-months old animals compared with the aged matched control (MDA; 9.87 +/- 0.4; p < 0.001). Our data shows that carvacrol could be a candidate to inhibit the development of age-induced liver damage through inhibition of oxidative stress and also increasing antioxidant defenses.