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Neuroprotective effects of carvacrol against cadmium-induced neurotoxicity in rats: role of oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis

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Abstract

Cadmium (Cd), is a heavy metal reported to be associated with oxidative stress and inflammation. In this paper, we investigated the possible protective effects of carvacrol against Cd-induced neurotoxicity in rats. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were treated orally with Cd (25 mg/kg body weight) and with carvacrol (25 and 50 mg/kg body weight) for 7 days. Carvacrol decreased the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and monoamine oxidase (MAO), and significantly increased the levels of glutathione (GSH) and activities of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in brain tissue. Additionally, carvacrol alleviated the in levels of inflammation and apoptosis related proteins involving p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), B-cell lymphoma-3 (Bcl-3), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), myeloperoxidase (MPO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cysteine aspartate specific protease-3 (caspase-3) and Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax) in the Cd-induced neurotoxicity. Carvacrol also decreased the mRNA expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP9 and MMP13), as well as 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8 − OHdG) level, a marker of oxidative DNA damage. Collectively, our findings indicated that carvacrol has a beneficial effect in ameliorating the Cd-induced neurotoxicity in the brain of rats.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Erzurum Regional Health Application and Research Hospital, Health Sciences University, Erzurum, Turkey

    Mustafa Onur Yıldız

  2. Department of Neurology, Private Buhara Hospital, Erzurum, Turkey

    Hamit Çelik

  3. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Bingol University, 12000, Bingol, Turkey

    Cuneyt Caglayan & Aydın Genç

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

    Tuba Doğan & Emine Satıcı

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  1. Mustafa Onur Yıldız
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  2. Hamit Çelik
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  3. Cuneyt Caglayan
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  4. Aydın Genç
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Contributions

MOY, HÇ and AG designed the research. AG and TD conducted experiments. AG, TD, and ES analyzed data. MOY and CC wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript. The authors declare that all data were generated in-house and that no paper mill was used.

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Correspondence to Cuneyt Caglayan.

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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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Yıldız, M.O., Çelik, H., Caglayan, C. et al. Neuroprotective effects of carvacrol against cadmium-induced neurotoxicity in rats: role of oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis. Metab Brain Dis 37, 1259–1269 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-022-00945-2

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