The effect of different doses of Juniper Oil on the antioxidant enzymes in rat liver

Objective: oil of juniperus communis lynn (jcl) which is extracted from jcl leaves is a natural product. in the present study we investigated the effects of jcl oil on oxidative and anti–oxidative systems in liver tissue of hypercholesterolemic rats which were administered jcl oil to lower their cholesterol levels. material–method: thirty–five, adult male wistar albino rats were included and divided into 5 groups as control group (gi) (fed with normal pellet chow), the cholesterol (gii) group (fed with pellet chow containing 2% of cholesterol), the 3rd, 4th and 5th groups (fed with 50, 100, 200mg/kg jcl oil, respectively in addition to the 2% cholesterol–containing pellet chow). following the 30 days administration period, rats were sacrified, liver tissues were taken. oxidative (mda) product and anti–oxidative (kat, sod, gsh–px) enzymes were detected. results: mda levels of the groups that were fed with cholesterol were significantly increased compared with control group (p<0.01). the dose of 200mg/kg jcl (gv) did not lower, even increased the mda levels compared to gii, in addition cat and sod activities in gv were significantly decreased compared to gi (p<0.01). discussion: jcl oil provided antioxidant effect with the dose 50mg/kg but this effect did not prolong with higher doses in fact with the dose 200 mg/kg oxidative stress was increased. in conclusion it can be said that jcl oil may lead to different effects in a tissue–specific and dose–dependent manner.