Effect of Red Fruit Oil (Pandanus Conoideus Lam) on Animal Model of Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a complication of pregnancy with hypertension and proteinuria as major symptomps. Although the pathogenesis of preeclampsia is not yet clear, the role of oxidative stress had been proven by several studies. The role of antioxidants in preventing preeclampsia also had been reported. Red fruit oil (RFO), extracted from red fruit (Pandanus conoideus Lam), is rich in antioxidants vitamin E and -carotene. The aims of this study were to investigate the potency of RFO in the prevention of preeclampsia in animal model of preeclampsia. A total of thirty two female Wistar rats on day-1 pregnancy were randomly divided into 4 groups of 8 rats each. To establish the preeclampsia symptoms all groups were given three kinds of stress that were overpopulation, noise and acute stress. Group 1 as a control was given distilled water 0.6 ml/day, group 2, 3, and 4 as treatment groups were given RFO 0.15 ml/day, 0.3 ml/day and 0.6 ml/day respectively. The blood pressure and urine protein were measured before and after treatment, while the plasma Malondialdehide (MDA) levels were measured after treatment. The results showed that were an increase of blood pressure and urine protein level in control group, but not in treatment group. Control group had higher plasma MDA levels compared with all treatment group. There was significant difference between the MDA levels in group 1 with group 2, 3, and 4 (P less than0.05), and there was a positive correlation (P less than0.01) in the plasma MDA levels with blood pressure and proteinuria. The results of this study indicate that the RFO can prevent the symptoms of preeclampsia, through its antioxidant activity in animal model of preeclampsia.