The research was conducted to determine the effect of α-tocopherol on cardiac tissue antioxidant enzymes of male Wistar albino rats infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei. Fifty-four (54) male Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into six (6) groups of three (3) rats each replicated three (3) times. The rats were marked and kept in stainless wire cages labeled A–F. Groups A, B, and C were blank, negative, and positive controls, respectively. Groups D, E, and F were infected with 1.0 × 106 trypanosomes and treated with 0.5 mg/kg (low dose), 2.5 mg/kg (medium dose), and 5.0 mg/kg (high dose) of vitamin E per body weight per day, respectively. The experiment lasted for 21 days from the day T. b. brucei infection was established. A sample of heart tissue homogenate was collected weekly across the groups and subjected to biochemical determination of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione-s-transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) concentrations. There were significant differences in the effect of α-tocopherol, which was applied during the experiment, on cardiac tissue antioxidant enzymes. After treatment, SOD, catalase, GST, GR, and GPx levels differed significantly (p < 0.05) from the negative control. There were significant reductions in the levels of catalase, GST, GR, and GPx and a rise in the SOD level as infections grow. The result, however, showed that α-tocopherol caused a significant elevation in the levels of catalase, GST, GR, GPx, and reduction in the concentration of SOD following treatments with α-tocopherol. In conclusion, there was a significant reduction in the level of SOD and a rise in the concentrations of catalase, GST, GR, and GPx following treatments with αtocopherol.
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