Effects of broccoli extract supplementation and physical exercise on antioxidant defences in rat tissues.

Sulforaphane is a natural dietary isothiocyanate produced by the enzymatic action of the myrosinase on glucopharanin contained in cruciferous vegetables of the genus Brassica such as broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cabbage. It has been found that SF has significant pharmacological properties, such as antiinflammatory and chemiopreventive. In addition, studies have demonstrated protective roles for SF on oxidative stress and cardio protective activity. Recent studies have demonstrated that sulforaphane increases gene transcription, protein expression, and enzyme activity of phase II enzymes including GR, GST, NQO1, thioredoxin reductase in cultured rat neonatal cardiomyocytes model. Also physical exercise, if moderate and constant, can lead to a higher antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes expression, while exhaustive exercise leads to oxidative stress. Our aim was to assess the capacity of a diet of broccoli extract to modifying the redox state of the cell, modulating the expression of phase 2 detoxifying enzymes and modifying GSH levels. We used female adult wistar rats divided into 3 groups (16 rats each): 1) controls, 2) exercised and 3) broccoli supplemented (250 mg/100gdiet so that they introduce 0,15 mg SF/ die). For each group, 8 rats were sacrified before and 8 after, forced intense exercise on a treadmill for 30 min. Our data show that both physical exercise and broccoli supplementation prevent the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level raise observed in control animals. Furthermore we observed modification in some antioxidant activity that resemble, altough with minor magnitude, the modification in antioxidant activity observed following acute tratement with purified sulforaphane, as previously reported.