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1536492 
Journal Article 
Safety of oligonol, a highly bioavailable lychee-derived polyphenolic antioxidant, on liver, kidney and heart function in rats 
Thirunavukkarasu, M; Zhan, L; Wakame, K; Fujii, H; Moriyama, H; Bagchi, M 
2012 
1 
Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods
ISSN: 1537-6516
EISSN: 1537-6524 
22 
7 
555-559 
English 
22694591 
WOS:000307997700009 
Oligonol (OLG), derived from lychee fruit, is a novel compound produced from the oligomerization of polyphenols. In this study, the acute effect of OLG treatment was investigated on heart, liver and kidney in rats. OLG treatment at two different doses (15 or 30 mg/kg body weight) and two different time points (1 day or 7 days of treatment) demonstrated that no toxic effects were observed on heart, liver and renal functions. Moreover, OLG did not induce any DNA damage or oxidative stress as measured by 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine levels in plasma. OLG supplementation increased the phosphorylation of myocardial endothelial nitric oxide (NO) level (p-eNOS) in both the treatment groups. Even the low dose OLG treatment (15mg/kg b.w) demonstrated an increase in p-eNOS/eNOS ratio after normalization of p-eNOS values with eNOS on day 1 (1.5-fold) and day 7 (2.2-fold) groups as compared to control. The above results suggest that OLG treatment increases endothelial NO levels and may play a role in NO-mediated vasodilatory effects without adverse side effects on cardiovascular function. This endothelial NO production may underlie the beneficial effect of OLG in cardiovascular health. 
Oligonol; heart; liver; kidney; echocardiography; toxicity