Effects of palm oil tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) and carotenes in ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged asthmatic Brown Norway rats

Synthetic therapeutic drugs for asthma, a chronic airway inflammation characterised by strong eosinophil, mast cell, and lymphocyte infiltration, mucus hyper-production, and airway hyper-responsiveness, exhibit numerous side effects. Alternatively, the high antioxidant potential of palm oil phytonut...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zainal, Zaida, Abdul Rahim, Afiqah, Khaza'ai, Huzwah, Chang, Sui Kiat
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI 2019
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/38407/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/38407/1/38407.pdf
_version_ 1848848870959742976
author Zainal, Zaida
Abdul Rahim, Afiqah
Khaza'ai, Huzwah
Chang, Sui Kiat
author_facet Zainal, Zaida
Abdul Rahim, Afiqah
Khaza'ai, Huzwah
Chang, Sui Kiat
author_sort Zainal, Zaida
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Synthetic therapeutic drugs for asthma, a chronic airway inflammation characterised by strong eosinophil, mast cell, and lymphocyte infiltration, mucus hyper-production, and airway hyper-responsiveness, exhibit numerous side effects. Alternatively, the high antioxidant potential of palm oil phytonutrients, including vitamin E (tocotrienol-rich fractions; TRF) and carotene, may be beneficial for alleviating asthma. Here, we determined the therapeutic efficacy of TRF, carotene, and dexamethasone in ovalbumin-challenged allergic asthma in Brown Norway rats. Asthmatic symptoms fully developed within 8 days after the second sensitization, and were preserved throughout the time course via intranasal ovalbumin re-challenge. Asthmatic rats were then orally administered 30 mg/kg body weight TRF or carotene. TRF-treated animals exhibited reduced inflammatory cells in bronchial alveolar lavage fluid. TRF- and carotene-treated rats exhibited notable white blood cell reduction comparable to that from dexamethasone. TRF- and carotene-treatment also downregulated pro-inflammatory markers (IL-β, IL-6, TNF-α), coincident with anti-inflammatory marker IL-4 and IL-13 upregulation. Treatment significantly reduced asthmatic rat plasma CRP and IgE, signifying improved systemic inflammation. Asthmatic lung histology displayed severe edema and inflammatory cell infiltration in the bronchial wall, whereas treated animals retained healthy, normal-appearing lungs. The phytonutrients tocotrienol and carotene thus exhibit potential benefits for consumption as nutritional adjuncts in asthmatic disease.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T09:41:23Z
format Article
id upm-38407
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-15T09:41:23Z
publishDate 2019
publisher MDPI
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling upm-384072020-05-04T16:46:41Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/38407/ Effects of palm oil tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) and carotenes in ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged asthmatic Brown Norway rats Zainal, Zaida Abdul Rahim, Afiqah Khaza'ai, Huzwah Chang, Sui Kiat Synthetic therapeutic drugs for asthma, a chronic airway inflammation characterised by strong eosinophil, mast cell, and lymphocyte infiltration, mucus hyper-production, and airway hyper-responsiveness, exhibit numerous side effects. Alternatively, the high antioxidant potential of palm oil phytonutrients, including vitamin E (tocotrienol-rich fractions; TRF) and carotene, may be beneficial for alleviating asthma. Here, we determined the therapeutic efficacy of TRF, carotene, and dexamethasone in ovalbumin-challenged allergic asthma in Brown Norway rats. Asthmatic symptoms fully developed within 8 days after the second sensitization, and were preserved throughout the time course via intranasal ovalbumin re-challenge. Asthmatic rats were then orally administered 30 mg/kg body weight TRF or carotene. TRF-treated animals exhibited reduced inflammatory cells in bronchial alveolar lavage fluid. TRF- and carotene-treated rats exhibited notable white blood cell reduction comparable to that from dexamethasone. TRF- and carotene-treatment also downregulated pro-inflammatory markers (IL-β, IL-6, TNF-α), coincident with anti-inflammatory marker IL-4 and IL-13 upregulation. Treatment significantly reduced asthmatic rat plasma CRP and IgE, signifying improved systemic inflammation. Asthmatic lung histology displayed severe edema and inflammatory cell infiltration in the bronchial wall, whereas treated animals retained healthy, normal-appearing lungs. The phytonutrients tocotrienol and carotene thus exhibit potential benefits for consumption as nutritional adjuncts in asthmatic disease. MDPI 2019 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/38407/1/38407.pdf Zainal, Zaida and Abdul Rahim, Afiqah and Khaza'ai, Huzwah and Chang, Sui Kiat (2019) Effects of palm oil tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) and carotenes in ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged asthmatic Brown Norway rats. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20 (7). art. no. 1764. pp. 1-18. ISSN 1661-6596; ESSN: 1422-0067 https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/7/1764 10.3390/ijms20071764
spellingShingle Zainal, Zaida
Abdul Rahim, Afiqah
Khaza'ai, Huzwah
Chang, Sui Kiat
Effects of palm oil tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) and carotenes in ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged asthmatic Brown Norway rats
title Effects of palm oil tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) and carotenes in ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged asthmatic Brown Norway rats
title_full Effects of palm oil tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) and carotenes in ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged asthmatic Brown Norway rats
title_fullStr Effects of palm oil tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) and carotenes in ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged asthmatic Brown Norway rats
title_full_unstemmed Effects of palm oil tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) and carotenes in ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged asthmatic Brown Norway rats
title_short Effects of palm oil tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) and carotenes in ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged asthmatic Brown Norway rats
title_sort effects of palm oil tocotrienol-rich fraction (trf) and carotenes in ovalbumin (ova)-challenged asthmatic brown norway rats
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/38407/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/38407/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/38407/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/38407/1/38407.pdf