Effect of earthworm powder on antioxidant enzymes in alcohol induced hepatotoxic rats

M. Prakash*, G. Gunasekaran, K. Elumalai

Department of Zoology, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu (India)

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• Gastroenterology

Earthworms have been widely used in traditional medicine for thousands of years. However, it is only during the past few decades, with the development of biochemical technologies, that research on the pharmaceutical effects has been initiated. The present study was carried out to investigate the hepatoprotective and antioxidant properties of indigenous earthworm powder (Perionyx excavatus), using alcohol induction as a model of hepatotoxic and oxidative damage. Alcohol-hepatotoxic rats exhibited elevation in the lipid-peroxidative marker thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS). A decrease in the activities of enzymatic antioxidant enzymes: Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT), Glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and non-enzymatic antioxidant vitamin C, vitamin E and reduced glutathione (GSH) was observed. Oral administration of dried earthworm powder (500 mg/kg body weight) for 42 days reversed these parameters towards normalcy. These results suggest that the indigenous earthworm Perionyx excavatus could afford a significant hepatoprotective and antioxidant effect against alcohol induced rats.

Corresponding Author: M. Prakash, MD; e-mail: dnaprakash@yahoo.co.in