Mitigative role of red palm on oxidative and antioxidant levels following exposure to mosquito coil smoke in female Wistar rats

Female infertility, which results in disruption of the female reproductive function has link to indiscriminate or chronic burning of Mosquito coil (MC) culminating in increased levels of oxidative stress biomarkers. Oils with significant antioxidant effects have shown promising attenuating effects on oxidative stress processes in reproductive function. The study investigates the mitigative role of red-palm oil (RPO) on oxidative and antioxidant activities following exposure to mosquito coil smoke in female Wistar rats. The study employed 60 female rats of 160-200 grams and was randomly place into 5 groups. Group A was exposed to environmental air only, group B received 2ml of red-palm oil only, groups C was exposed to mosquito coil for 2-hours, groups D exposed to 4-hours of mosquito coil smoke and group E was treated with 2 ml of red-palm oil and 4-hours of mosquito coil smoke for 21-days. Data obtained was analysed using Graph pad prism 9.5 using ANOVA followed by post-Hoc Turkey comparison, and alpha was set at p≤0.05. Rats exposed to MC resulted in a significant increase in MDA levels, significant decrease in SOD, CAT, and GSH levels in exposed groups C and D compared to A. Treatment with RPO significantly reduced the levels of MDA in groups B and E as compared to D. Conversely, SOD and GSH showed a significant increase levels following RPO in groups B and E compared to D; and CAT had no significant difference in treatment groups B and E following RPO intake. Thus, the study concludes that RPO has an ameliorative effect by mitigating the effect of lipid peroxidation of MC exposed rats.