Coconut Haustorium Maintains Cardiac Integrity and Alleviates Oxidative Stress in Rats Subjected to Isoproterenol-induced Myocardial Infarction

The present study evaluates the effect of aqueous extract of coconut haustorium on isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction in Sprague Dawley rats. Rats were pretreated with aqueous extract of coconut haustorium (40 mg/100 g) orally for 45 days. After pretreatment, myocardial infarction was induced by injecting isoproterenol subcutaneously (20 mg/100 g body weight) twice at an interval of 24 h. Activity of marker enzymes like lactate dehydrogenase, creatinine kinase-MB, aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase were increased in the serum and decreased in the heart of isoproterenol treated rats indicating cardiac damage. These changes were significantly reduced in haustorium pretreated rats. Moreover, an increase in the activities of antioxidant enzymes and decrease in the levels of peroxidation products were observed in the myocardium of coconut haustorium pretreated rats. Histopathology of the heart of these rats showed almost normal tissue morphology. From these results, it is clear that aqueous extract of coconut haustorium possess significant cardioprotective and antioxidant properties during isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction in rats.