Abstract
Mercuric chloride (HgCl2) is a heavy metal that is toxic to the human body. Carvacrol (CAR) is a flavonoid found naturally in plants and has many biological and pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer activities. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of CAR in HgCl2-induced testicular tissue damage. HgCl2 was administered intraperitoneally at a dose of 1.23 mg/kg body weight alone or in combination with orally administered CAR (25 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg body weight) for 7 days. Biochemical and histological methods were used to investigate oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, and autophagy pathways in testicular tissue. CAR treatment increased HgCl2-induced decreased antioxidant enzyme (SOD, CAT, and GPx) activities and GSH levels. In addition, CAR reduced MDA levels, a marker of lipid peroxidation. CAR decreased the levels of inflammatory mediators NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-1β, COX-2, iNOS, MAPK14, MAPK15, and JNK. The increases in apoptotic Bax and Caspase-3 with HgCl2 exposure decreased with CAR, while the decreased antiapoptotic Bcl-2 level increased. CAR reduced HgCl2-induced autophagy damage by increasing Beclin-1, LC3A, and LC3B levels. Overall, the data from this study suggested that testicular tissue damage associated with HgCl2 toxicity can be mitigated by CAR administration.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Prof. Dr. Mehmet Tuğrul Yılmaz, İbrahim Yıldız, and KONUDAM team for their support.
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The authors’ contribution as follows was accepted by all authors: Hasan Şimşek: research, methodology, investigation. Cihan Gür, Mustafa İleritürk, Sefa Küçükler, and Mehmet Öz: methodology, investigation, data curation, formal analysis. Nurhan Akaras: methodology, investigation, histopathological examination. Fatih Mehmet Kandemir: investigation, formal analysis, supervision. Hasan Şimşek wrote the first draft of the article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Şimşek, H., Gür, C., Küçükler, S. et al. Carvacrol Reduces Mercuric Chloride-Induced Testicular Toxicity by Regulating Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, Apoptosis, Autophagy, and Histopathological Changes. Biol Trace Elem Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-023-04022-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-023-04022-2