Herein, we investigated whether L-ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol supplementation has potential to alleviate arsenic induced immunotoxicities in thymus, spleen and circulating leukocytes. Forty-eight adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups before the treatments. Group-I (control); Group-II (sodium arsenite, 3mg/Kg/day/rat); Group-III [sodium arsenite + L-Ascorbic acid(L-AA) (200mg/Kg/day/rat) and α-tocopherol (α-T) (400mg/Kg/day/rat)]; Group-IV (L-AA and α-T). The result showed that sodium arsenite exposure (consecutive 30 days) caused weight reduction, structural alterations of thymus and spleen, accompanied by decrease in thymocyte and splenocyte counts. Decreased superoxide dismutase and catalase activities, increased malondialdehyde and protein-carbonyl contents, reduced Nrf2 and Bcl2 expression and increased p-ERK, NF-β, Bax, and cleaved-caspase-3 expression were also observed in thymus and spleen of arsenic exposed rat. Enhanced plasma ACTH and corticosterone, ROS induced apoptosis of lymphocytes were also observed. L-AA and α-T supplement has the potential to abrogate the deleterious impact of arsenic on thymus, spleen and circulating lymphocytes. Whole transcriptome analysis of leukocytes revealed that arsenic treatment augmented the expression of Itga4, Itgam, and MMP9 genes, which might help in transient migration of leukocytes through the endothelial cell layer. Supplementation with L-AA and α-T maintained Itga4, Itgam, and MMP9 gene expression within leukocytes at lower level.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.