AMELIORATIVE EFFECTS OF GLUTATHIONE ON ISONIAZID-INDUCED TOXICITY IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

ABSTRACT Introduction: Glutathione is a naturally occurring antioxidant found in plants, animals, fungi, and some bacteria and archaea. It is a tripeptide composed of three amino acids: glycine, cysteine, and glutamic acid. Glutathione plays a crucial role in protecting cells from damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals.As an antioxidant, glutathione acts as a powerful scavenger of ROS and other harmful molecules, neutralizing them and preventing oxidative stress. Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance between the production of ROS and the body's ability to detoxify them, leading to cell damage and potential health issues. Objective: This study evaluated the ameliorative effect of glutathione on isoniazid-induced toxicity in Drosophila melanogaster. Methods: Six groups of flies with five replicates of vials in each group and each vial containing sixty flies were administered isoniazid (4.73 mg/5 g of fly diet) to induce toxicity and treated with glutathione and silymarin as a standard drug as follows; group one was exposed to diet alone as negative control, group two to five were treated with different concentration of glutathione per 5 g diet (14.95 mg, 29.9 mg, 59.8 mg and 89.9 mg per five vials replicates respectively) for five days after induction with isoniazid for five days. Group six was treated with 125 mg/5 g diet of silymarin after induction with isoniazid for five days. The total duration for induction and treatment was ten days. After day ten, the flies were homogenized and biochemical assay was carried out to find the level of total thiol, catalase, glutathione-S-transferase and total protein. Results: The data of the biochemical analysis were analyzed using graphpad prism 8.0 and results shows significant (p