Survival time and histological outcome of major organs following honey administration to acute paraquat-intoxicated rats: A preliminary study

Objective: The objective of this research was to investigate the possible protective effect of Tualang honey (TH) in acute paraquat (PQ) toxicity in rats. Methods: A total of 48 male Sprague-Dawley rats aged eight weeks old were used. Oral PQ and TH were administered at 225 mg/kg and 0.2 g/kg, respectively. The effects of single and multiple TH treatmentson PQ-intoxicated rats were then investigated. Single TH treatment groups received TH at 0.5 (PQ+TH0.5h), 2 (PQ+TH2h) or 6 (PQ+TH6h) hours following PQ administration. Multiple TH treatment groups received TH at 0.5, 2 and 6 h (PQ+THtrp) or further daily treatment for the following six days (PQ+TH7d) after PQ administration (n=6 per group). The survival time of the rat was recorded until day 28 before sacrifice, which was followed by a histological examination. Results: Treatment with TH did not improve the survival rate of PQ-intoxicated rats. However, the median survival time of rats that received multiple TH treatments was significantly longer compared to that of the PQ+TH6h group. TH treatment was found to improve the histological outcomes of PQ-intoxicated rats, particularly in the lungs. Conclusion: Our findings suggest the potential role of honey in delaying the toxic effects of PQ.