Protective Effect of Fragaria ananassa Crude Extract on Cadmium-Induced Lipid Peroxidation, Antioxidant Enzymes Suppression, and Apoptosis in Rat Testes

Abstract

Cadmium is a deleterious environmental pollutant that threats both animals and human health. Oxidative stress and elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) have recently been reported to be the main cause of cellular damage as a result of cadmium exposure. We investigate, here, the protective effect of strawberry crude extracts on cadmium-induced oxidative damage of testes in rats. Four groups (n = 8) of 32 adult male Wistar rats weighing 160–180 g were used. The control group received 0.9% saline solution all over the experimental period (5 days). Group 2 was intraperitoneally injected with 6.5 mg/kg CdCl2. Group 3 was provided only with an oral administration of strawberry methanolic extract (SME) at a dose of 250 mg/kg. Group 4 was treated with SME before cadmium injection with the same mentioned doses. It was shown that cadmium exposure results in a significant decrease in both relative testicular weight and serum testosterone level. Analyzing the oxidative damaging effect of cadmium on the testicular tissue revealed the induction of oxidative stress markers represented in the elevated level of lipid peroxidation (LPO), nitric oxide (NO), and a decrease in the reduced glutathione (GSH) content. Considering cadmium toxicity, the level of the antioxidant enzyme activities including catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD2), glutathione peroxidase (GPx1), and glutathione reductase (GR) were markedly decreased. Moreover, gene expression analysis indicated significant upregulation of the pro-apoptotic proteins, bcl-2-associated-X-protein (BAX), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFA) in response to cadmium intoxication, while significant downregulation of the anti-apoptotic, B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2) gene was detected. Immunohistochemistry of the testicular tissue possessed positive immunostaining for the increased level of TNF-α, but decreased number of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) stained cells. Administration of SME debilitated the deleterious effect of cadmium via reduction of both LPO and NO levels followed by a significant enhancement in the gene expression level of CAT, SOD2, GPX1, GR, nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NFE2L2), heme oxygenase-1 (HMOX1), Bcl-2, and PCNA. In addition, the SME treated group revealed a significant increase in the level of testosterone and GSH accompanied by a marked decrease in the gene expression level of Bax and TNF-α. In terms of the summarized results, the SME of Fragaria ananassa has a protective effect against cadmium-induced oxidative damage of testes.

Polysaccharides from Phormidium versicolor (NCC466) protecting HepG2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells and rat liver tissues from cadmium toxicity: Evidence from in vitro and in vivo tests

“…The results are consistent with the findings of Navaneethan and Rasool [52]. Additionally, Elmallah et al [53] reported that Cd stress significantly decreased antioxidant enzymes SOD and CAT in rat liver.…”

Protective effects ofFragaria ananassamethanolic extract in a rat model of cadmium chloride-induced neurotoxicity

“…Oral administration of different strawberry extracts down-regulated the expression of TNF-α in nicotinamide–streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats [ 57 ]. Furthermore, we previously showed that the methanolic extract of strawberry effectively attenuated cadmium-induced inflammation in liver [ 21 ], kidney [ 5 ], and testis [ 22 ] tissues. Our findings showed that compared with Cd-intoxicated rats, rats treated with SME showed down-regulation of TNF-α expression in the brain tissue.…”

“…Furthermore, the extract has high concentration of total phenolics content ranged from 98.3 to 112.7 mg/g extract, total flavonoids content ranged from 44.2 to 57.1 mg/g extract, and the total anthocyanin content ranged from 12.6 to 25.3 mg/g extract [ 21 ]. These bioactive compounds provide health benefits through several mechanisms, including the scavenging of ROS, protecting and regenerating other dietary antioxidants, and chelation of pro-oxidant metals [ 22 ]. These active ingredients have various pharmacological activities such as prevention of inflammation, hepatotoxicity, cancer, obesity, and oxidative stress [ 21 , 23 ].…”

Assessment of Beneficial Effect of Propolis against Cadmium Induced Toxicity and Oxidative Stress in Rats.

“…In the present study, Cd induced oxidative damage by increased lipid peroxidation and inhibitions of enzymes required to prevent such oxidative damage. Similar results showed by many previous study [76][77][78][79][80][81] . Cd generate free radicals and ROS such as H2O2, superoxide O2( -) and hydroxyl radical (OH -), nitric oxide (NO -)3 and can reduce the level of the main antioxidant compounds in the cells by inactivating enzymes and other antioxidant molecules 82 .…”