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Abstract
Stress is associated with the development of numerous diseases, such as gastric ulcers, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, immune diseases, diabetes, respiratory diseases and psychological disorders. The present study was carried out to investigate the pathophysiological changes induced by water-immersion restraint stress for 8 hours in fasting rats, through the determination of serum glucose level, serum liver enzymes levels, serum lipid profile, gastric ulcer index and intraluminal bleeding score. In addition, the present study tried to provide an approach about the different mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of stress-induced dysfunctions and diseases.
The results obtained can be summarized as follows:
1. Stress produced severe gastric mucosal damage in terms of ulcer index and intraluminal bleeding score, significantly elevated AST and ALT levels, produced a significant fall of serum glucose level and significantly increased serum triglycerides level. On the other hand, stress did not change serum cholesterol, HDL-C or LDL-C levels.
2. Administration of vitamin E (100 mg/kg, orally) as a single daily dose for 30 days, vitamin E (300 mg/kg, orally) one hour or vitamin C (50 or 200 mg/kg, orally) 30 minutes before stress induction did not change ulcer index or intraluminal bleeding score. However, administration of reduced glutathione (600 mg/kg, i.p.) 30 minutes before stress induction significantly decreased ulcer index and intraluminal bleeding score. Administration of vitamin E in two doses (100 and 300 mg/kg) and vitamin C (50 mg/kg) did not produce any change of serum AST and ALT levels. On the other hand, administration of vitamin C (200 mg/kg) produced a significant increase of serum AST level, but did not change serum ALT level. Administration of glutathione (600 mg/kg) significantly increased serum AST and ALT levels.