Effect of Acute Warm Water Swim Stress on Antioxidant Levels in Swiss Albino Rats

Background: Heat stress affects both physical and mental tasks. Imbalance in maintenance of temperatureleads to oxidative stress and damage to the body systems. Aim: To evaluate the effect of acute warm waterswim stress on antioxidant status changes in albino rats. Materials and Methods: The present study wasconducted in the Department of Physiology, Meenakshi medical College& Research Institute, Chennai.Twenty male albino rats were randomly divided in to two groups, control group and experimental group.Experimental group of rats were exposed to warm water swim stress at 40oc for duration of 15min ofcontinuous single exposure. The antioxidant status namely enzyme activity (LPO,CAT, SOD & GPx) andnon-enzyme activity (Vitamin C & Vitamin E) were estimated as per standard procedures. Results: Therewas a significant (P<0.001) increase in Lipid peroxidation and was significantly (P<0.001) decrease inenzyme activity (SOD, CAT, & GPx) and non- enzyme activity (Vitamin C & Vitamin E) when comparedwith their normal controls. Conclusion: The changes in antioxidant estimation helps in developing a newapproach in understanding the changes in the body under acute exposure to heat water swim stress whichis mainly responsible for pathophysiological changes and to know the thermoregulatory activities of themammals.