PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF FOLIC ACID IN HEALTHY RABBITS IN RELATION TO SOME BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS

This experiment was conducted to study the protective effect of folic acid in normal healthy rabbits on serum glucose, total protein, total cholesterol and triacylglycerol concentration as well as on the total number of platelets and glutathione enzyme level in blood. Two groups of rabbits were used (5 rabbits each) one group was given oral dose of ( 0.15mg/Kg body weight ) folic acid daily for four weeks in comparison with control group. The results revealed a significant decrease in serum glucose, total cholesterol and triacylglycerol concentration. Glutathione level showed a significant increase. Although the homocysteine (Hcy) level in blood could not be determined in this study, the relationship between folic acid and Hcy is discussed according to the current study and some other recent studies. It was concluded that folic acid has an important role to protect healthy individuals against cardiovascular diseases and we could depend it as a protective agent against hyperglycaemia and hyperlipidemia.