The Effect of Aqueous Extract of White Tea on the Levels of Antioxidant Enzymes of Rat's Liver Tissue Exposed to Arsenic

Having high antioxidant capacity and an important role in the health, the flavonoids and phenolic compounds increase antioxidant defense against antioxidative stress. White tea is among herbs attracting attention recently due to high antioxidant capacity. The present study aimed at surveying the effect of white tea on oxidative stress resulted of Arsenic.
In the present study 32 male rats were used in four groups of eight animals. The first group composed of healthy animals (control group) which received distilled water along with standard dietary via gavage, the second one was treated with Arsenic (50 ppm in drinking water), the third group was treated with white tea extract (1.5%) via gavage and the fourth one received aqueous white tea extract (1.5%) plus Arsenic (50 ppm in drinking water) via gavage. Upon the end of the treatment period (28 days) the rats were anesthetized using ether and then autopsy was conducted to measure the levels of Catalase Antioxidant Enzymes (CAT), Glutathione Peroxidase (GPx), Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD), Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC), and Malondialdehyde (MDA) of liver.
Findings: The aqueous extract of white tea caused a meaningful increase of CAT , GPx, and SOD activities as well as a meaningful decrease of MDA . It also increased the TAC (PDiscussion & The results demonstrated that administration of white tea causes to increase the antioxidant enzymes activity as well as to strengthen the antioxidant defense and to decrease the stress oxidative resulted of Arsenic, besides. In the present the administration of Sodium Arsenite caused decreased antioxidant enzymes activity and increased MDA.