Effect of antioxidant potential of tropical fruit juices on antioxidant enzyme profiles and lipid peroxidation in rats

• Tropical fruit juices increase the levels of HDL-c in rats.
• The juices reduce the levels of liver SOD, erythrocytes GPx and TBARS in rats.
• The tropical fruit juices present high levels of TAC and TP.
• Antocyanins were identified by LC–DAD–ESI–MS.

Fruits are a rich source of a variety of biologically active compounds that can have complementary and overlapping mechanisms of action, including detoxification, enzyme modulation and antioxidant effects. Although the effects of tropical fruits have been examined individually, the interactive antioxidant capacity of the bioactive compounds in these formulations has not been sufficiently explored. For this reason, this study investigated the effect of two tropical fruit juices (FA and FB) on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes in rats. Seven groups, with eight rats each, were fed a normal diet for 4 weeks, and were force-fed daily either water (control), 100, 200, or 400 mg of FA or FB per kg. The results showed that the liver superoxide dismutase and catalase activities (FA200), erythrocytes glutathione peroxidase (FB400) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (FB100, FA400, FB200, FB400) were efficiently reduced by fruit juices when compared with control; whereas HDL-c increased (FB400).