Modulation of Crude Oil Induced Alteration of Oxidative Stress Indices in Rat by Red Palm Oil

The toxic properties of crude oil were hitherto described. Therefore, several materials are being tested for protective potential counter to petroleum toxicity. This study evaluated the oxidative stress status of rats fed diet incorporating petroleum tainted diet with red palm oil. Four groups with six rats in each group were employed in this study. Rats in group 1 were fed with fish feed only while rats in group 2 were fed with crude oil tainted diet and rats in groups 3 and 4 were fed with contaminated feed that was pre-treated with 4 ml and 8 ml of red palm oil respectively. The rats were exposed to the respective diet for 30 days and had water freely. Thereafter standard analytical methods were used to measure oxidative stress markers in organs/tissues of rats. The results showed that crude oil tainted diet stimulated lipid peroxidation and cause decline in reduced glutathione level, superoxide dismutase and catalase activities in the organ/tissues of rats which were significant (P < 0.05) relative to control. Pre-treatment of the rat diets with red palm oil significantly (P < 0.05) drop lipid peroxidation and increase level of antioxidant markers in the organ/tissues of rats in relation to the values in rats fed with diet tainted with crude oil only. This study has confirmed that red palm oil can evade the oxidative insult elicited by crude oil intoxication in various organs/tissues. Therefore, red palm oil should be made a major dietary component for inhabitants of petroleum producing areas of the world.