Abstract

Drosophila melanogaster is a popular experimental animal because it is easily cultured in mass, has a short generation time, and mutant animals are readily obtainable. In our present work, we studied the antioxidant activity of Zea mays leaves using Drosophila as a model system under conditions of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induced oxidative stress. This study was conducted to analyze the differential response elicited by the two oxidants and leaf extracts under in vivo conditions. The study clearly demonstrates that the exposure to oxidants (H2O2 and CCl4) causes a significant depletion of the major antioxidant components in Drosophila melanogaster. Administration of Zea mays leaf extract restored the depleted levels of both enzymic and non-enzymic antioxidants. The female flies showed significantly higher activities of antioxidants compared to the males in all the groups including the controls. These results show that the leaves of Zea mays exert a significant antioxidant action against oxidative stress induced by H2O2 and CCl4 in vivo.