Effect of herbal preparation on heavy metal (cadmium) induced antioxidant system in female Wistar rats.

Cadmium is one of the elements found to damage antioxidant systems in mammals. To ameliorate cadmium toxicity and to prevent oxidative stress, natural products may be useful. In Indian ethnobotanical practice, a mixture of 17 herbal products is used to fortify the reproductive system of women after parturition and to reverse ovarian oxidative stress. Oral administration of this extract to rats exposed to cadmium was useful in reversing oxidative stress. Two different doses of cadmium (50 ppm and 200 ppm) were given to Wistar rats aged 45 and 65 days. An herbal extract derived from 17 plants was administered orally every day at a dose level of 200 mg/kg of body weight to the rats exposed to cadmium. A battery of enzymes involved in antioxidant activity in the ovary, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione-s-transferase (GST) were measured in the control, cadmium-exposed rats without treatment and in the cadmium-exposed rats treated with herbal extract. The reduction in SOD, catalase, GPx and GST activity after cadmium exposure improved significantly in the rats treated with the herbal extract (p < 0.05). The decrease of antioxidant enzymes due to cadmium exposure was reversed significantly with herbal extract administration. The synergistic effect of each bioactive compound in different herbal extracts requires further study.