Caffeine alters oxidative homeostasis in the body of BALB/c mice

Caffeine is a metabolite from coffee genus and some other plants. It has disparate molecular targets in the body. Beside the major action based on antagonism on adenosine receptor, it is involved in other neurotransmission pathways as well. The complete mechanism of caffeine action remains unrevealed including link to oxidative homeostasis. For the reason, the current paper solves how caffeine influences oxidative homeostasis in BALB/c mouse model. Caffeine was given intramuscularly in doses 1-64 mg/kg and the animals were sacrificed in time intervals from 4 hours up to 3 days. In the experiment, a significant increase of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) levels in the kidney and decrease in the brain indicated up and down regulation of oxidative burden. Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) level in the kidney appoint at release of low molecular weight antioxidants in the organ. The remaining organs including heart, muscles and liver were intact. In the same way, caspase 3 level was steady and no apoptotic processes were proved (Fig. 3, Ref. 48).