Tatcha Balit, Asma Asae, Piyakorn Boonyoung, Kanyaphak Chanchula, Phetai Hiranphan, Thammarat Panityakul, and Nisaudah Radenahmad

DOI: 10.14456/sjst-psu.2018.55

pp. 475 - 483

Abstract

Our previous studies showed that feeding of young coconut juice (YCJ) had beneficial effects in both male and female
rats such as preventing osteoporosis, accelerating wound healing and delaying Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathologies. Nevertheless,
this large dose of YCJ feeding for five weeks in female rats started to have unfavorable side effects e.g. the deposition of glycogen
in the liver. Thus, our aim in the present study was to investigate the lowest neuroprotective dose of YCJ that would cause the
least side effects for long-term consumption in male rats. Three low doses of YCJ (10, 20 and 40 mL/kg body weight (BW)were
applied. The results showed that YCJ preserved the number of neuronal cells but to different degrees in each area of the brain.
After 10 weeks of treatment, the BW and organ weights (liver, kidney and adrenal gland) of the three YCJ treated groups were not
significantly different from the control group. Moreover, the circulating levels of blood sugar, cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL, BUN,
creatinine, total protein, albumin, AST, ALT, alkaline phosphatase, sodium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium of the three YCJ
treatments were not significantly different from the sham group. These results indicated that YCJ consumption might have potential
to be a supplement for preserving neuronal cell density and was safe in terms of lipid, liver and renal profiles.