Nigerian walnut (Plukenetia conofora) attenuates oxidative stress in hypercholesterolemic rats

Joint Event on 14^th World Summit on Alzheimer’s Disease, Dementia Care Research and Awareness & 6^th World Summit on Heart, Stroke and Neurological Disorders

August 31- September 01, 2018 | Boston, USA

Babatunde Joshua Otunla, Oluwaseyi Israel Malachi and Ayodele Jacob Akinyemi

Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Nigeria
Afe Babalola University, Nigeria

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Neurol Disord

Abstract :

Nigerian walnut (Plukenetia conofora) is a shrub native to and cultivated in the West and central African for its edible seed which is considered useful in the management of stroke and hypertension by local herbalists. The present study aimed at understanding the possible mechanism of action of the seeds by studying the changes in markers of oxidative stress as the seed is used to supplement (5% and 10%) hypercholesterolemic diet (2% cholesterol) fed to albino rats. The result showed a significant (p>0.05) decrease in the liver and brain total thiol and non-protein thiol as well as the serum high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels while increasing the organ catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities as well as the total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Supplementation with the seeds however significantly attenuate the effects of the hypercholesterolemia-induced oxidative stress. The attenuation is probably owing to the observed antihypercholesterolemic potential of the nuts, or the intrinsic antioxidant pontential of the nuts.

Biography :

Babatunde Joshua Otunla is currently studying for his Master’s degree at Department of Biochemistry, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, where he bagged his Bachelor’s degree. He is a fully baked, technically inclined, scientifically unbiased and self-motivated researcher with a good laboratory proficiency. He is presently a laboratory technologist at Basic Health Centre, Oke Aro, Akure Nigeria. He is a competent and enthusiastic researcher with interest in Nutrition and Cardiovascular diseases. His keen interest understanding the contribution of African diet and nutrition to cardiovascular health has drove him into various research that make use of experimental animal models to investigate the effects of commonly consumed Nigerian foods on markers of cardiovascular health.

E-mail: otunla_babatunde@yahoo.com