CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF TUALANG HONEY AND ITS EFFECT ON THE LUNG SURFACTANTS AND HISTOLOGY OF MALE RATS EXPOSED TO CIGARETTE SMOKE

This study reported the chemical composition of Tualang honey and its effect on the lung surfactants and histology of male rats exposed to cigarette smoke. Thirty-two adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were used and they were randomly divided into 4 groups of eight rats each: control, honey-treated (Honey), cigarette smoke-exposed (CS) and honey-treated plus CS (Honey+CS). Rats in control and CS groups received distilled water (0.5 mL/day) while rats in Honey and Honey+CS groups received honey (1.2 g/kg body weight/day) by oral gavage. Furthermore, rats in CS and Honey+CS groups were exposed to CS in a chamber for 8 minutes (3 times/day). Exposure of rats to cigarette smoke significantly altered their phosphatidyl choline/ phosphatidyl glycerol (PC/PG) ratio but not their surfactant protein A levels with increased number of alveolar macrophage containing carbon particles. Administration of Tualang honey to CS exposed rats resulted in modulation of most of these parameters and which results were coroborrated by histology. The colour intenstity, pH and moisture content of the honey were obtained as 272.75 mili-absorbance unit, 3.43 and 17.38%, respectively. Screening for phenolic compounds in Tualang honey using High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography showed the presence of 18 compounds while only five were identified which possessed strong in vitro antioxidant capacity as seen from their 2,2,diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl radical scavenging ability. The study showed the promising potentials of Tualung honey in protecting lung surfactants from the deleterious action of cigarette smoke which may be associated with its antioxidant phenolic compounds.Key words: tualang honey; surfactant; inhalation toxicology; phenolic compounds KEMIČNA SESTAVA MEDU TUALANG IN NJEGOV VPLIV NA POVRŠINSKO AKTIVNE SNOVI V PLJUČIH TER HISTOLOGIJO PLJUČ SAMCEV PODGAN, IZPOSTAVLJENIH CIGARETNEM DIMUPovzetek: Raziskava poroča o kemijski sestavi medu Tualang in njegovem vplivu na površinsko aktivne snovi v pljučih ter histologijo pljuč samcev podgan, izpostavljenih cigaretnemu dimu. V študiji so uporabili 32 odraslih podgajih samcev seva Sprague-Dawley, ki so bili naključno razdeljeni v 4 skupine po osem podgan: kontrolna skupina, skupina, ki je uživala med s prehrano (Honey), skupina, ki je bila izpostavljena cigaretnemu dimu (CS) in skupina, ki je bila izpostavljena cigaretnemu dimu ter je uživala med (Honey+CS). Podgane v kontrolnih skupinah in skupinah CS so dobile destilirano vodo (0,5 ml/dan), podgane v skupinah Honey in Honey + CS pa peroralno med (1,2 g/kg telesne teže/dan). Poleg tega so bile podgane v skupinah CS in Honey + CS izpostavljene v komori cigaretnemu dimu trikrat na dan po 8 minut. Izpostavljenost podgan cigaretnemu dimu je bistveno spremenila razmerje fosfatidilholina/fosfatidilglicerola (PC/PG), ne pa tudi ravni površinsko aktivne snovi A v pljučih in ni vplivala na število alveolarnih makrofagov, ki vsebujejo ogljikove delce. Uporaba medu Tualang pri podganah, izpostavljenih cigaretnemu dimu, je povzročila spremembo večine opazovanih parametrov, katerih rezultati so bili potrjeni s histološko preiskavo. Intenzivnost barve medu je bila 272,75 enote mili-absorbance, pH 3,43, vsebnost vlage v medu pa je bila 17,38 %. Presejalni test na fenolne spojin v medu Tualang s tankoplastno kromatografijo je pokazal prisotnost 18 spojin, od katerih jih je bilo 5 prepoznanih kot spojine z močno in vitro antioksidativno sposobnostjo, kot je razvidno iz njihove sposobnosti odstranjevanja radikala 2,2-difenil-1-pikril hidrazila. Študija je pokazala obetavne potenciale medu Tualung pri zaščiti pljučnih površinsko aktivnih snovi pred škodljivim delovanjem cigaretnega dima, kar je lahko povezano z njegovimi antioksidativnimi fenolnimi spojinami.Kjučne besede: med tualang; surfaktant; inhalacijska toksikologija; fenoli