Abstract

CARDIOPROTECTIVE EFFECT OF PERSEA AMERICANA MILL FRUIT EXTRACT IN EXPERIMENTAL MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

Manal A Emam* and Marwa G.A. Hegazy

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the protective effect of avocado fruit extract(AVOE) and elucidate its mechanisms on isoproterenol inducedmyocardial infarction in rats. The biochemical markers for myocardialinfarction, antioxidant status on heart tissue, the histopathologicalexamination of heart tissue and the genes expressions levels of nitricoxide synthase (NOS), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) and tumornecrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were all evaluated. Pretreatment withavocado followed by isoproterenol injection significantly preventedalmost all the parameters of isoproterenol induced myocardialinfarction. Results were confirmed by the histopathologicalexamination. No significant change was observed in the baselinegroup. Avocado pretreatment upregulated the expression of endothelialnitric oxide synthase, whereas expressions of nuclear factor-kappa B and tumor necrosisfactor-alpha were downregulated in isoproterenol-treated rats. This suggests that theprotective effects of avocado fruit extract may be mediated through upregulation of nitricoxide production, antioxidant mechanisms, and its ability to inhibit TNF-α and NF-kB.

Keywords: Myocardial infarction, Avocado, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, nuclear factorkappa B.