The STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI issue article summary

The summary of the selected article appears at the bottom of the page. In order to get back to the contents of the issue this article belongs to you have to access the link from the title. In order to see all the articles of the archive which have as author/co-author one of the authors mentioned below, you have to access the link from the author's name.

Background. Immobilization is a commonly used anakinetic procedure in orthopedics. Immobilization/restraint stress is an easy and convenient method to induce both psychological and physical stress as animal models for stress. L-Carnitine is a natural substance required in the energetic metabolism of the mammals, which is also known for its antioxidant function. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of chronic immobilization stress on oxidant/antioxidant balance in the serum and tissues, (liver and muscle), on rats with and without carnitine supplementation. Materials and methods. Rats were divided randomly into four groups of ten rats each: control group (I); immobilization stress (II); supplemented with carnitine (III); supplemented with carnitine and exposed to immobilization stress (IV). Results and conclusions. Our experimental results show that chronic immobilization stress increases the oxidative stress (OS) indicators in serum and tissues and decreases those of antioxidant (AO) defense. Carnitine supplementation in chronic immobilization stress conditions had benefic effects on OS and AO defense indicators, this compound being likely to have favorable effects by diminishing the OS indicators especially in serum, and by increasing the AO defense mainly in tissues (HD and SH).

Keywords: chronic immobilization stress, oxidants/antioxidants, serum, tissues, carnitine.