The effects of verbascoside on plasma lipid peroxidation level and erythrocyte membrane fluidity during immobilization in rabbits: a time course study.

We studied the changes in the level of plasma lipid peroxidation indicated by malondialdehyde (MDA) level and erythrocyte membrane fluidity expressed by the value of order parameter (S) during single hindlimb immobilization of 21 days using thiobarbituric acid - reactive substances method and spin label electron spin resonance method, respectively. The impacts of verbascoside that has been proved its antioxidative activity on the measured parameters were examined. 11 New Zealand white rabbits were immobilized and divided into two groups. The rabbits in the verbascoside group were administrated with 0.8 mg/kg of verbascoside twice a day orally throughout the immobilization. The rabbits in the placebo group were treated with normal saline. In placebo group, the results showed that the level of MDA significantly increased on day 3, peaked on day 7, and was still significantly higher on day 14 of immobilization, compared with the value measured before immobilization. The value of S reached the highest on day 7 and subsequently lowered but still higher on day 14 than those measured before immobilization. Compared with placebo group, there were lower MDA level (P < 0.05, 0.001, and 0.05 for days 3, 7, and 14, respectively) and higher erythrocyte membrane fluidity (P < 0.05, 0.001, and 0.001 for days 3, 7, and 14, respectively) in verbascoside group. The data indicated that immobilization caused temporal changes of increase in plasma lipid peroxidation and decrease in erythrocyte membrane fluidity. Verbascoside might have the effects to moderate oxidative stress and erythrocyte membrane fluidity during immobilization.