Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 

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POTENTIAL PROTECTIVE ROLE OF SELENIUM IN EXPERIMENTAL SUBACUTE INTOXICATION WITH ETHEPHON IN RATS

MIHAI TUDOR 1, BOGDAN GABRIEL ȘLENCU 1, RODICA CUCIUREANU 1, MAGDALENA CUCIUREANU 2*, NINA FILIP 2, CRISTIANA FILIP 2, CARMEN SOLCAN 3

1.Faculty of Pharmacy, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iași, 16 Universităţii Street, 700115, Iași, Romania
2 .Faculty of Medicine, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iași, 16 Universităţii Street, 700115, Iași, Romania
3 .Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, “Ion Ionescu de la Brad” University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iași, 3 Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490, Iaşi, Romania

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Ethephon (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid) is a widely used plant growth regulator. This study aims to evaluate the potential protective effect of sodium selenite (Se) in ethephon-induced subacute intoxication. We worked on 4 groups of Wistar rats which received as follows: control group - saline; group Se - selenium 1 mg/kg/day; group Eth - ethephon 200 mg/kg/day; Se+Eth - selenium 1 mg/kg/day and ethephon 200 mg/kg/day. The activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), alkaline phosphatase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant status (TAS), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartat amino-transferase (AST), creatinine and urea have been determined in plasma for all groups of rats. Se administration (in group Se+Eth) reversed the elevation of ALT (44.68 ± 8.73 U/L versus 55.77 ± 4.87 U/L, p = 0.0406), urea (218.33 ± 41.67 mg/dL versus 270 ± 36.33 mg/dL, p = 0.0369) and antagonised the decrease of TAS activity (3.30 ± 0.17 mmol/L versus 2.69 ± 0.45 mmol/L, p = 0.0088) versus group Eth. Selenium (group Se+Eth) alleviated the histopathological aspect compared to group Eth. In conclusion, Selenium showed a partial protective effect in ethephon-induced subacute intoxication in rats.