Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 23 (2007) 193–197 Zinc supplementation ameliorates static magnetic field-induced oxidative stress in rat tissues Salem Amara a,b,c,∗ , Hafedh Abdelmelek a , Catherine Garrel b , Pascale Guiraud b , Thierry Douki c , Jean-Luc Ravanat c , Alain Favier b,c , Mohsen Sakly a , Kh´ emais Ben Rhouma a a Laboratoire de Physiologie Animale, Facult´ e des Sciences de Bizerte, 7021 Jarzouna, Tunisia b Laboratoire de Stress Oxydant, D´ epartement de Biologie Int´ egr´ ee, CHU-Grenoble, France c Commissariat d’ Energie Atomique DRFMC/SCIB, Laboratoire des L´ esions des Acides Nucl´ eiques, Grenoble, France Received 22 May 2006; received in revised form 29 August 2006; accepted 5 September 2006 Available online 9 September 2006 Abstract The present study was undertaken to find out the effect of zinc supplementation on the antioxidant enzymatic system, lipid peroxidation and DNA oxidation in liver and kidney of static magnetic field (SMF) exposed rats. The exposure of rats to SMF (128mT, 1h/day during 30 consecutive days) decreased the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) and the superoxide dismutase (SOD) in liver and kidney. By contrast, sub-chronic exposure to SMF increased the malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in liver and kidney. Our results revealed an increase of the 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2  -desoxyguanosine (8-oxodGuo) in kidney of SMF-exposed rats. However, this biomarker of DNA oxidation remained unchanged in liver. Zinc supplementation (ZnCl 2 , 40 mg/l, per os) in SMF-exposed rats restored the activities of GPx, CAT and SOD in liver to those of control group. However, only CAT activity was restored in kidney. Moreover, zinc administration was able to bring down the elevated levels of MDA in the liver but not in the kidney. Interestingly, zinc supplementation attenuated DNA oxidation induced by SMF in kidney to the control level. Our investigations suggested that zinc supplementation minimizes oxidative damage induced by SMF in rat tissues. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Static magnetic field; Zinc; Oxidative stress; DNA; Rats 1. Introduction Epidemiological and results of experimental in vitro and in vivo studies carried out in recent years have given more attention to the biological effects of electromagnetic field (EMF). Previ- ous data suggested the association between EMF exposure and the increased incidence of certain types of tumour, particularly leukemia and brain cancer (Wertheimer et al., 1995; Aldrich et al., 2001). Recently, Abdelmelek et al. (2005) reported that static magnetic field (SMF) (128 mT) increased the norepinephrine content in skeletal muscle associated to sympathetic hyperac- tivity in rats. Previous reports from our laboratory by Chater et al. (2004) demonstrated that sub-acute exposure to SMF stimu- ∗ Corresponding author at: Laboratoire de Physiologie Animale, Facult´ e des Sciences de Bizerte, 7021 Jarzouna, Tunisia. Tel.: +216 95726571; fax: +216 72590566. E-mail address: amara salem fsb@yahoo.fr (S. Amara). lated biosynthesis of plasma corticosterone and metallothionein in female rats and enhanced apoptosis. In part, the mechanism for this stress response by SMF is believed to be related to oxidative stress (Chater et al., 2005). There are a number of data impli- cated EMF in free radical production, like superoxide anion in different cells and organs, in macrophages, kidney, liver, and monocytes (Khadir et al., 1999; Kula et al., 2000; Simko et al., 2001; Lupke et al., 2004). Indeed, several findings concluded that magnetic field-induced changes in enzyme activity, gene expression, affects membrane structure and functions and causes DNA damage (Savitz, 1995; Lewy et al., 2003; Yokus et al., 2005). Previous data indicated an increase in DNA single and double-strand breaks in rat brain following EMF exposure (Lai and Singh, 2004). During the last several years, many articles have been presented indicating important role of zinc in the therapy of depression (Frederickson, 1989; Levenson, 2006). Zinc is a trace element, essential for living organisms. More than 300 1382-6689/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.etap.2006.09.001