N. O. Salyha

Institute of Animal Biology, National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, Lviv;
е-mail: ynosyt@yahoo.com

Received: 7 May 2020; Accepted: 13 November 2020

Epinephrine (EPI) surges is known to be associated with stress induction and raising risk of heart strokes. The search for effective, nontoxic substances with antioxidative effects has been intensified in recent years. We focused our attention on two amino acids: L-glutamic acid (Glu) and L-cysteine (Cys). Our goal was to compare the effects of Glu, Cys and Glu in combination with Cys intraperitoneal administration on the antioxidant system indicators and the content of lipid peroxidation products in myocardium and spleen tissues of rats subjected to experimental EPI-induced stress. Rats were divided into five groups: EPI, EPI/Glu, EPI/Glu/Cys, EPI/Cys and control. The reduced glutathione (GSH) and TBA-active products level, glutathione peroxidase (GPx,), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) activity in tissues were measured. Our results indicate that epinephrine-induced stress increased the content of the lipid peroxidation products in myocardium and reduced the level of GSH in myocardium and spleen tissues of rats. Increasing of GPx activity in spleen only stressed animals were observed, while significantly lowered the GPx activity in groups of rats treated with amino acids (Glu, Glu/Cys, Cys). The obtained results suggest that the GR activity was significantly inhibited by stress in all investigated groups in spleen and epinephrine-induced rats and EPI/Cys groups of rats in myocardium. In rats treated with amino acids (particularly, Glu and Glu/Cys groups), we observed no significant difference in studied parameters. Our results indicate that application of Glu, Cys alone or in combination can increase GSH content in both studied tissues and activity of some antioxidative enzymes, and thus partially mitigated of epinephrine-induced stress in rats.