Abstract: The effects of wheat oligopeptides on ethanol-induced oxidative damage and antioxidant indexes in serum and liver tissues of mice were evaluated to preliminarily determine whether wheat oligopeptides can improve the antioxidant status of mice with acute alcoholism. Sixty healthy male ICR mice were randomly divided into five groups by body mass: blank control group, model group, and low-, medium- and high-dose wheat oligopeptides intervention groups (0.4, 0.8 and 1.6 g/kg mb), and all these animals were administered by gavage for 30 days. After the last gavage, the mice in the model group and the three wheat oligopeptides intervention groups were fasted for 26 h and then re-gavaged with 50% ethanol aqueous solution at a dose of 12 mL/kg mb, while those in the blank group were not treated. The activity of total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), and the levels of glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyl (PC) in the serum and liver of all mice were determined after 6 hours. The results showed that compared with the model control group, the activity of T-SOD in liver was significantly increased in each intervention group (P < 0.01). In the low-dose wheat oligopeptide group, the contents of GSH in serum (P < 0.05) and liver (P < 0.01) were both significantly increased, and the content of PC in liver was significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Wheat oligopeptides at high dose could significantly reduce the content of MDA in serum (P < 0.05). These results suggest that wheat oligopeptides can enhance the antioxidant capacity in mice with acute alcoholism and have a protective effect on acute alcoholic liver injury in mice.

Key words: wheat oligopeptides, acute alcoholism, alcoholic liver injury, oxidative damage, antioxidant