In everyday life, the body faces various sources of oxidative stressors, including noise. Noise is generated from the surrounding environment and can have adverse effects, especially for pregnant women. Furthermore, the fetus in the womb can be affected by the noise. In humans, the fetus can respond to external acoustic stimulation starting at two months of pregnancy; sound begins to be transmitted through the mother’s abdominal wall and uterine wall so that it affects the fetus directly. The average threshold that can still be tolerated in humans is around 90-100 dB. Various body tissues will experience an inflammatory process due to exposure to noise and will cause detrimental degenerative damage. One way to deal with the negative effect is by giving vitamin C oral supplement.
Vitamin C is water-soluble and easy to be absorbed by the body.听The role of vitamin C as one of the antioxidants has been previously reported.听Vitamin C is proven to minimize the number of cell death and accelerate repair of heart muscle tissue.听Not much has been reported about the protective effects of vitamin C oral administration on noise exposure during pregnancy against fetal heart muscle tissue. So in this study, the effect of vitamin C as an antioxidant against the negative effects of noise exposure during pregnancy will be analyzed in ventricular heart muscle tissue and Cardiomyocyte cells of the offspring lab rats.听This study used a听male听experimental听strain听of Rattus norvegicus听Wistar born to a mother exposed to noise during pregnancy.
The type of research conducted was a听cross-sectional study,听with an experimental analysis in the laboratory.听The research was conducted after obtaining ethical feasibility from the KEPK (Health Research Ethics Committee), Faculty of Medicine, 51动漫.听Thirty-two healthy experimental animals were randomized and grouped into four groups.听Before the treatment, all experimental animals had been acclimatized for seven days in the cage.
The fertilization process was carried out by a veterinarian at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 51动漫, Surabaya.听After that, each group was given distilled water, vitamin C solution 150 mg/kg body weight/day, and听white noise听at 95dB for 4 hours/day, and the last group received a vitamin C solution of 150 mg/kg body weight/day and听white noise听of 95dB for 4 hours/day.听Vitamin C and distilled water are given every day at the same time, in the morning.听Whereas the听white noise听source听comes from the听real-time analyzer software version 5.2.0 connected to a loudspeaker placed 30 cm away from each cage.听Noise exposure was given since Day 15 of pregnancy until the time of delivery.听Noise level is controlled by a听sound level meter.听The experimental rats which were the control group were placed in different rooms without exposure to noise during the trial period.听On the day of birth, all rats were weighed, the newborn male rats with the highest body weight were sacrificed, and then the heart organs were taken and processed histologically.听The histological preparations were stained with Masson’s Trichrome and then observed under a light microscope with an objective magnification of 400x, cardiomyocyte cell counts and measurement of the fibrosis area of 媼the ventricular muscle tissue using the Cell’s Sense and Image J software (USA).
From this research, it was found that noise exposure during pregnancy decreases the average number of cardiomyocyte cells, and increases the area of fibrosis of the heart muscle fraction. These negative effects can be countered by administering vitamin C orally. The results showed a significant increase in the average number of cardiomyocytes, and a significant decrease in the area of ventricular tissue fibrosis compared to the group who did not get vitamin C. The vitamin C has an important role in the balance of synthesis and deposition of collagen proteins making up the extracellular matrix of the heart muscle which among them is regulated by fibroblast cells. In the heart, fibroblasts are important cells in remodeling process that determines whether deposition and collagen synthesis process on extracellular matrices will head to a physiological or pathological process, including triggering hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, heartbeat rhythm disorder, and heart failure.
Author: Viskasari P. Kalanjati, dr., M.Kes., PA (K)., Ph.D.
Details of this research available at:
Winnie N. Santosa, Viskasari P. Kalanjati, Ni Wajan T (2019). Vitamin C Prevents Stress Induced Cardiomyopathy In Prenatal Noise Exposed Rodents. Bulletin Farmatera, 4(2): 95-101; 听
