Terminalia arjuna protects mouse hearts against sodium fluoride-induced oxidative stress.

Fluoride is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant. In the current study we have investigated the antioxidative properties of an ethanol extract of the bark of Terminalia arjuna (T. arjuna ethanol extract [TAEE]) against sodium fluoride (NaF)-induced oxidative stress in murine heart. Experimental mice were divided into four groups. The first group served as the normal control. The second group received NaF at a dose of 600 ppm through drinking water for 1 week and served as the toxin control. The third group was exposed to TAEE (at a dose of 50 mg/kg of body weight for 1 week) prior to NaF intoxication, and the last group was treated with vitamin C at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight for 1 week prior to NaF intoxication and served as the positive control in the study. The activities of various antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione S-transferase), levels of cellular metabolites, reduced glutathione, and oxidized glutathione, levels of lipid peroxidation end products, and protein carbonyl contents were determined in the cardiac tissues of all the experimental animals. NaF intoxication significantly altered all the indices related to the prooxidant-antioxidant status of the heart; treatment with the active constituents prior to NaF administration, however, prevented these alterations. In addition, the ferric reducing/antioxidant power assay revealed that TAEE enhanced the cardiac intracellular antioxidant activity. Histological studies also demonstrated a cardioprotective action of TAEE. The combined results suggest that TAEE protects murine hearts from NaF-induced oxidative stress, probably via its antioxidant properties.