the effects of co-administration of immobilization stress and aloe vera on serum carcinoembryonic antigen in rats

Background: immobilization has been used extensively and accepted widely for studying stress-induced alterations. to determine the protective effects of aloe vera leaf extract, we evaluated the effects of co-administration of immobilization stress and aloe vera leaf extract on serum level of carcinoembryonic antigen (cea) tumor marker in male rats. materials and methods: in this experimental study, 45 male wistar rats were randomly divided into 9 groups of 5 rats in each including: 1) control, 2) normal saline receiving, 3) aloe vera extract receiving, 4) acutely immobilized, 5) chronically immobilized, 6) acutely immobilized+aloe vera extract, 7) chronically immobilized+aloe vera extract, 8) acutely immobilized+normal saline and 9) chronically immobilized+normal saline. the animals were exposed to chronic or acute immobilization stress for 2 h/day or 8 h/day for a period of 3 weeks or one week, respectively. aloe vera extract (300 mg/kg/day) was fed by gavage feeding orally. blood samples were collected and following serum collection, cea level was determined by radioimmunoassay method. data were compared statistically between groups using anova. results: serum cea level was significantly increased in acutely (0.640±0.025 ng/ml) or chronically immobilized (0.647±0.023 ng/ml) rats compared with control animals group (0.564±0.014 ng/ml) (p<0.001). however, there was no significant difference between serum cea levels of acutely or chronically immobilized aloe vera extract received animals compared with control rats (0.622±0.027 ng/m and 0.616±0.044 ng/ml, respectively). conclusion: our findings indicate that immobilization stress enhances serum cea level, however, intake of aloe vera extract can withstand against