Dietary supplementation of Phoenix dactylifera L. seeds decreases proinflammatory mediators in CCl4induced rats

Introduction: Low immunity causes the body to become more easily infected, resulting in inflammation. If the immune system is functioning properly, this inflammation will end in healing. The immune system has a protective role in the body, and its antiinflammatory role is vital. During trauma, the initial immune response is marked by inflammation. The use of dateseed extract, although not steeped date seeds, has been studied as an antiinflammatory agent. This study is aimed at demonstrating the antiinflammatory effect of steeped date seeds (Phoenix dactylifera L.) in rats with CCl4induced inflammation.Methods: This experiment included a pre and posttest with control group design. Male Wistar rats (approximately 2–3 months of age, ranging in weight from 150 to 200 g) were assigned to the following groups: negative control (NC), positive control (PC), T1 treatment dose 1 g/kg, T3 treatment dose 3 g/kg, T5 treatment dose 5 g/kg, and healthy control (HC). Groups 1–5 were subjected to CCl4 induction at a single dose of 2 mL/kg before treatment. The levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNFα), glutathione (GSH), and gamma interferon (IFNγ) were compared in groups using oneway analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by a least significant difference (LSD) post hoc test for comparisons between means.Results: Levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNFα), GSH, and IFNγ were significantly different among the HC and treatment groups after CCl4 induction. After 14 days of steeped dateseed treatment, TNFα decreased, but GSH and IFNγ levels increased significantly (P = 0.001).Conclusion: Administration of steeped date seeds at a dose of 5 g/kg can increase GSH and IFNγ, and decrease TNFα, the strongest inflammatory marker in CCl4induced rats. The findings of this study indicate that dateseed supplementation can support body immunity by regulating proinflammatory mediators.