Lycopene Ameliorates Di(2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate-Induced Pyroptosis in Spleen via Suppression of Classic Caspase-1/NLRP3 Pathway

Abstract

Lycopene (Lyc) as a natural antioxidant has attracted widespread attention. Di­(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) can cause serious spleen injury in animals via the environment and food chain. For investigation of whether Lyc could alleviate DEHP-exerted pyroptosis in spleen through inhibiting the Caspase-1/NLRP3 pathway activation, 140 male mice were randomly divided into 7 groups: control group, vehicle control group, Lyc group (5 mg/kg BW/day), DEHP-exposed group (500 or 1000 mg/kg BW/day, respectively), and DEHP + Lyc groups by daily administration for 28 days. Pathological results showed that the supplementation of Lyc alleviated DEHP-induced inflammatory infiltration. Moreover, the addition of Lyc inhibited DEHP-induced Caspase-1, NLRP3, ASC, NF-κB, IL-1β, and IL-18 overexpression and GSDMD down-expression. These results indicate that Lyc could inhibit DEHP-induced Caspase-1-dependent pyroptosis and the inflammatory response. Taken together, the study provided new evidence that Lyc may be a strategy to mitigate spleen injury induced by DEHP.

Lycopene Alleviates Chronic Stress-Induced Spleen Apoptosis and Immunosuppression via Inhibiting the Notch Signaling Pathway in Rats

“…In our study, the relative protein expression of procaspase-8 and cleaved caspase-3 was detected by western blotting analysis, while TUNEL staining was employed to quantify apoptosis levels. Our results indicate that LYC or DAPT pretreatment can downregulate the CS-induced increases of procaspase-8 and cleaved caspase-3, which is consistent with previous investigations observing that LYC alleviated spleen apoptosis caused by di­(2-ethylhexyl)­phthalate and AFB 1 . , Collectively, these findings demonstrate that LYC can relieve chronic stress-induced death receptor pathway-mediated apoptosis of rat splenocytes by inhibiting the Notch pathway.…”

IL-6/STAT3/Foxo1 axis as a target of lycopene ameliorates the atrazine-induced thymic mitophagy and pyroptosis cross-talk

“…14 Additionally, numerous studies have revealed the novel role of Lyc in decreasing the toxic effect of environmental risk factors. 18–20 Previous studies indicated that Lyc consumption protected the spleen, heart and kidney from ATZ exposure due to its antioxidant properties. 4,18 However, the protective role of Lyc in ameliorating ATZ-induced thymic injury is unclear.…”

Lycopene regulates the mitochondrial unfolded protein response to prevent DEHP-induced cardiac mitochondrial damage in mice

“…14 It will disrupt the health of humans and animals through the food chain. 10,15,16 Numerous studies have shown that the exposure of DEHP could cause harm to the liver, 17 spleen 18 and testis 19 in mice. A previous study showed that it would disrupt the heart rate variability and cardiovascular reactivity after DEHP exposure.…”