ABSTRACT
Asthma, a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, is associated with increased oxidative stress, which can extend to the cardiovascular system, potentially leading to heart damage. This study evaluated the effects of montelukast, prednisolone, and salbutamolon heart tissue oxidant and antioxidant enzyme activity in asthma-induced female Sprague-Dawley rats. Forty-two female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to seven groups, including control, asthma-induced, and treatment groups receiving salbutamol, montelukast, prednisolone, and salbutamol/prednisolone. Asthma was induced using 1 mg ovalbumin and 20 mg aluminium hydroxide (I.p.) for sensitisation and 1 mg ovalbumin (w/v) aerosolised ovalbumin biweekly for 28 days, and treatment with salbutamol, montelukast and prednisolone administered for four weeks, after which the animals were sacrificed with tissue samples collected for oxidant and antioxidant assay for malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Statistical analysis was performed by one-way analysis of variance (One-way ANOVA); p <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The result indicated that Salbutamol significantly increased SOD and CAT activities butalso elevated MDA levels. Salbutamol did not impact MDA enzyme activity, while montelukast and prednisolone increased catalase enzyme activity.Salbutamol and prednisolone combination did not affect either oxidant or antioxidant activities. In conclusion, the study shows that montelukast and prednisolone probably inhibit the production of reactive oxygen species by their anti-inflammatory activities. Salbutamol does not affect the production of reactive oxygen species but increases the enzyme activities of catalase, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase. Meanwhile, montelukast and prednisolone increased catalase enzyme activity.
