Abstract:

Objective: This study aimed to examine the antioxidant effect of total flavonoids from apple pericarp (FAP)in D-galactose-induced aging mice. Methods: The aging model was established by hypodermic injection of D-galactose.Fifty healthy Kunming mice were chosen and randomly divided into five groups (n=10, half male and half female): normalcontrol, model control, low- (50 mg/kg), middle- (100 mg/kg) and high-dose (200 mg/kg) FAP treatment groups. From thesixteenth day after the injection, the mice from the three treatment groups were intragastrically administrated with FAPfor 45 successive days. The learning and memory ability of mice were tested using the darkness-avoidance and Morriswater maze methods on the forty-sixth day. Then, the mice were killed, and blood, brain, liver, heart and kidney tissueswere collected for the measurement of MDA contents, and SOD activities and GSH-Px activities. Results: Compared withthe normal control group, the learning and memory ability of the mice in the model control group were decreased; theMDA contents of brain, liver, kidney and blood except for heart tissue were increased significantly (P＜0.05), whereas theactivities of SOD and GSH-Px were decreased significantly (P＜0.05). Compared with the model control group, except forthe activities of blood SOD and GSH-Px in the mice from the high- and low-dose groups as well as heart GSH-Px activityin the mice from the low-dose group, which were not significantly enhanced (P＞0.05), both enzyme activities revealed asignificant increase in all other investigated tissues (P＜0.05). When comparing each dose group with the normal controlgroup, there were no significant differences in the various parameters for the middle-dose group, yet the low- and high-dosegroups indicated a significant increase in MDA content and a significant decrease in SOD and GSH-Px activities (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion: Orally administered FAP improve antioxidant functions in aging mice, showing a dose-effect relationship.

Key words: apple pericarp, total flavonoids, antioxidant, mice