Yeast βeta-Glucan Ameliorates Lipid Profile Changes and Oxidative Stress Induced after Whole Body Exposure to Gamma rays Fractionated Dose in Male rats

Glucans are naturally occurring as poly-branched polysaccharides that can be found in a variety of fungal cells, mushroom and yeast. One of the different glucans is the β eta 1, 3-glucan configuration which has been shown to act as immune activator. The objective of this study was to evaluate the protective role of yeast β eta 1,3-glucan (BG) in the liver of rats exposed to oxidative stress induced by gamma radiation, some liver enzyme activities, lipid profile and glucose level. Male albino rats (130-150 g) were divided into four groups (n=10) and treated in parallel: 1- Control group: animals received distilled water, 2- β eta glucan group: rats received daily by gavages yeast β eta 1,3-glucan (as water suspension) at a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight during 15 days, 3- Radiation group: rats were exposed to gamma-radiation (2 Gy x 3 delivered every other day), 4- β eta glucan + Radiation group: rats received yeast β eta 1,3-glucan for 10 consecutive days before irradiation and 5 days during the period of radiation exposure. Animals were sacrificed 1 and 7 days post-the last irradiation dose. The results revealed that gamma irradiation provoked oxidative stress in the liver demonstrated by a significant increase of lipid peroxidation end product malondialdehyde (MDA) along with reduction in glutathione (GSH) content. Oxidative stress in the liver was accompanied by a significant increase of plasma alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and transaminases (ALT and AST) activities as markers of liver damage. In addition, the level of total cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and glucose showed a significant increase on 1 and 7 days post-irradiation. Yeast β eta 1,3-glucan treatment has significantly attenuated the radiation-induced oxidative stress in the liver which was associated with improvement of liver enzyme activities, lipid profile and glucose level. It could be concluded that supplementation of beta-glucan from yeast can protect from the hyperlipidimia, hyperglycemia and oxidative stress resulting from ir - radiation with gamma rays.