Effects of proanthocyanidin and methotrexate on glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and glutathione reductase (GR) in an animal model

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the effects of orally administered proanthocyanidins (PAs) and methotrexate (MTX) on glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and glutathione reductase (GR) activities in serum and erythrocytes of Wistar rats. Seventy Wistar rats were divided into 3 groups: Group 1 included 30 rats administered 1.36 mg/kg of MTX and 30 rats of Group 2 were administered 0.87 mg/kg of PAs. Ten rats of Group 3 were maintained only on normal rat chow and water ad libitum and served as the control group. Five rats each from groups 1 and 2 were sacrificed weekly for 6 weeks while 5 rats from the control group were sacrificed on days 0 and 42, respectively. In all the groups, the serum and erythrocytes were analyzed spectrophotometrically for the activities of G6PD and GR and the results were compared with the control group. After 42 days of PAs administration insignificant differences (P>0.05) were observed in the activities of the two enzymes and there was also no significant difference (P>0.05) in the level of MDA when compared to the control group. However, the results showed significant differences (P<0.05) in the activities of both G6PD and GR even within 3 weeks of methotrexate administration. The MDA level was also significantly different from the control group following MTX administration for 21 and 42 days.