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Evaluation of oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, oxidative DNA damage and metalloproteinases in the lungs of rats treated with cadmium and carvacrol

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Abstract

Background

The potential protective properties of carvacrol (CRV), which possesses various biological and pharmacological properties, against lung toxicity caused by cadmium (Cd), a major environmental pollutant, were investigated in the present study.

Methods and results

In the study, rats were given 25 or 50 mg/kg CRV orally 30 min after administrating 25 mg/kg cadmium chloride for seven days. Subsequently, the levels of 8-OHdG, MMP-2, and MMP-9, as well as markers of oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis, were analyzed in the lung tissue of the animals. The results revealed that CRV exhibited antioxidant characteristics and raised SOD, CAT, GPx, and CAT levels and decreased the MDA levels induced by Cd. It also suppressed proinflammatory cytokines by lowering the levels of CRV NF-κB and p38 MAPK, thus exerting an anti-inflammatory effect against Cd. It was found that the levels of Bax, Caspase-3, and cytochrome c increased by Cd were decreased by the application of CRV. CRV also showed an anti-apoptotic effect by increasing Bcl-2 levels. The levels of 8-OHdG, MMP2, and MMP9, which increased with Cd administration, were observed to reduce after treatment with CRV.

Conclusions

The results indicate that CRV has protective properties against Cd-induced lung toxicity.

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Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chest Diseases, Konya Numune Hospital, Konya, Turkey

    Kerim Yesildag

  2. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Atatürk University, 25240, Erzurum, Turkey

    Cihan Gur, Mustafa Ileriturk & Fatih Mehmet Kandemir

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  1. Kerim Yesildag
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  2. Cihan Gur
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  3. Mustafa Ileriturk
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  4. Fatih Mehmet Kandemir
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Contributions

KY: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation CG: Writing-Review & Editing, Data Curation, Methodology MI: Data Curation, Methodology, Conceptualization FMK: Data Curation, Methodology, Writing—Original Draft.

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Correspondence to Fatih Mehmet Kandemir.

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Ethics committee approval of the study was obtained from Atatürk University Experimental Animals Local Ethics Committee (Approval No. 2018/12/217).

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Yesildag, K., Gur, C., Ileriturk, M. et al. Evaluation of oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, oxidative DNA damage and metalloproteinases in the lungs of rats treated with cadmium and carvacrol. Mol Biol Rep 49, 1201–1211 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06948-z

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