In vivo assessment of antioxidant activity of hylocereus undatus against alcohol-induced oxidative stress

• Main Authors: Manuel, Ma. Angelika T., Tiu, Jared Kyle H.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2019
• Subjects: Pitahayas—Therapeutic use; Pitahayas—Analysis; Biochemistry
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/14860
• Institution: De La Salle University

Hylocereus undatus (H. undatus), a climbing vine cactus in tropical and subtropical countries, is known to have health promoting and high antioxidative properties attributed to its essential nutrients and bioactive compounds. However, studies regarding the H. undatus in vivo are currently limited. Thus, the research focuses on the antioxidant potential in vivo through the catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. The freeze-dried extract was analyzed via high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to estimate its flavonoid content in terms of quercetin equivalents (QE). Brine shrimp cytoxicity assay was also done to determine the safe dosage level for in vivo treatment. Alcohol-induced oxidative stress in vivo treatment was conducted for 21 days, after which the CAT and SOD activities were assessed. Results showed that H. undatus extract contained 4.3 mg (QE)/g sample. The extract showed to be non-toxic as indicated by its lethality concentration (LC50) value of 1.07 x 10¹⁶ and 1.5 x 10¹² and 24 hours exposure, respectively. Assessment of the biomarkers revealed that ethanol-treated group had the lowest CAT activity. In contrast, data showed that CAT activity is higher in H. undatus group than the ethanol group. Moreover, there was a decrease in the CAT activity of H. undatus and ethanol group. SOD activity was at its highest in H. undatus and ethanol group since the antioxidant and pro-oxidant were both present in the system which may have activated the oxidative stress first line of defense. These results showed that H. undatus has the potential to protect the system against oxidative stress from external factors.