THE IN-VIVO EFFECT OF DIFFERENT BEDDING MATERIALS ON THE ANTIOXIDANT LEVELS OF RAT-HEART, LUNG AND LIVER-TISSUE

Several experimental effects due to wood-derived bedding have been rep orted. Female Sprague Dawley rats were kept on pine shavings, eucalypt us pulp, vermiculite and in wire-bottomed cages without bedding for 14 days whereafter normal values for the anti-oxidants ascorbic acid and reduced glutathione (G-SH) in rat heart lung and liver tissue were de termined and compared. Statistically significant differences were obse rved for lung G-SH between pine shavings and eucalyptus pulp (p < 0.01 83), and heart G-SH between vermiculite and eucalyptus pulp (p < 0.094 8). The highest levels of liver G-SH were obtained using pine shavings compared to vermiculite (p < 0.0001), eucalyptus pulp (p < 0.0002) an d wire floor (p < 0.0001). Statistically significant differences in as corbic acid concentrations could only be described between the wire-bo ttomed cages and eucalyptus pulp (p < 0.0333) for lung tissue and betw een pine shavings and eucalyptus pulp for liver tissue (p < 0.042). Al though no statistically significant differences were observed in heart ascorbic acid levels between the different bedding applications, the concentration obtained using vermiculite was approximately 50% higher than that observed with the other materials. Pine shavings, eucalyptus pulp and wire floors demonstrated virtually the same heart tissue asc orbic acid levels. It was thus demonstrated that bedding material can alter the tissue antioxidant concentration of laboratory animals, limi ting the comparison of this type of result between institutions to tho se using identical environmental conditions.