Potential Anti-Apoptotic Impacts and Telomerase Activity of Royal Jelly on Different Tissues of Rats

Background and aim: royal jelly (rj) has a broad range of pharmaceutical activities, including antioxidant, anti-aging, anti-tumor, and anti-apoptotic. the current study aimed to investigate rj impacts on cell survival by measuring the amount of telomerase enzyme, protein bcl2, and bax in different tissues of rats. methods: in this study, male wistar rats (n=21) were randomly divided into 3 groups; group 1 was the control group. group 2 and group 3 were treated with royal jelly at a concentration of 150 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg for 30 days, respectively. the contents of bax, bcl-2, and telomerase in the tissues brain, liver, kidney, and lymphocytes were measured using the elisa method. results: telomerase increased in all the tissues involved in both treatment groups compared to the control group; however, the changes were not statistically significant. although bax and bcl-2 proteins showed irregular patterns, the ratio of bax/bcl-2 declined in almost all the studied tissues with a significant decline in the rats’ liver and kidney treated with rj at the dose of 300 mg/kg and in the lymphocytes of the group administered 150 mg/kg of rj. conclusion: rj appears to have potential anti-apoptotic effects on the rats’ tissues studied via regulating the levels of bax, bcl-2, and telomerase proteins. regarding telomerase, its levels increased in a dose-dependent manner in all involved tissues. concerning the ratio of bax/bcl-2, it is sensible to conclude that rj tends to positively impact the cell survival rate at the dose of 300 mg/kg in the brain, liver, and kidney. nonetheless, this ratio decreased more significantly at the dose of 150 mg/kg in lymphocytes, showing more potential to survive brain cells in this concentration.