Protective effects of apigenin against furan-induced toxicity in mice

Abstract

Furan, a food contaminant formed by heating, is possibly carcinogenic to humans. In this study, we discussed the effect of administration of apigenin on furan-induced toxicity by determining the ROS content, oxidative damage, cytokine levels, DNA damage, and the liver and kidney damage in a mouse model. Our data showed that apigenin administered at 5, 10, and 20 mg kg(-1) bw per day could decrease the toxicity induced by furan to different extents. On one hand, apigenin has the ability to increase the oxidative damage indexes of glutathione (GSH) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities but decrease myeloperoxidase (MPO) activities and maleic dialdehyde (MDA) content in the liver and kidney of mice treated with furan. On the other hand, it could decrease cytokine levels of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, and interleukin (IL)-6 but increase interleukin (IL)-10 in the serum of furan-treated mice. At the same time, the three concentrations of apigenin elected in this paper all could decrease the ROS content, DNA damage index of 8-hydroxy-desoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), the liver and kidney damage indexes of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine content in furan-treated mice to different extents. The protective effects of apigenin against furan-induced toxicity damage were mainly due to its excellent ability to scavenge free radicals and inhibit lipid oxidation. This is important when considering the use of apigenin as a dietary supplement for beneficial chemoprevention of furan toxicity.

Protective role of propolis on low and high dose furan-induced hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress in rats

“…(49) and Wang .et al . (43) showed that furan caused oxidative stress in association with elevated MDA levels and resulted in changes in antioxidant enzyme activities in mice. Similarly, in our study, we found that the levels of MDA were elevated in the groups administered furan at 2 and 16 mg/kg b.w./day, indicating the induction of lipid peroxidation.…”

“…The altered activities of some liver-specific enzymes reflect the effects of cell proliferation, and their metabolic transformations in tumour cells are quite different from normal cells (29). Many researchers have shown that furan administration causes an increase in some liver-specific enzyme activities (29, 37, 43, 49). In this study, furan administration to rats led to a marked elevation in the levels of plasma AST, ALT, ALP, and LDH, which is indicative of hepatocellular damage.…”

Risks for public health related to the presence of furan and methylfurans in food

“…Treatment (i.p.) of BALB/c mice with furan for 7 days resulted in increased serum levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and 8-oxodeoxyguanosine as measured by ELISA (Wang et al, 2014a). B. cis-2-Butene-1,4-dial (BDA)…”

Apigenin: A current review on its beneficial biological activities

“…Some research data have demonstrated that apigenin may exert a protective effect on liver (Table ). It may inhibit some chemicals‐induced liver injury, such as acetaminophen, furan, and N‐nitrosodiethylamine (Ali, Rahul, Naz, Jyoti, & Siddique, 2014; Wang, Chen, Hu, & Yuan, ; Yang, Wang, Xue, Gu, & Xie, ), and the mechanisms may be related to the increment of hepatic antioxidant ability including antioxidant glutathione and antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase, and the reduction of hepatic inflammatory cytokines including TNF‐α, IL‐1β, and IL‐6. After treatment of hepatoma HepG2 cells with apigenin, the expression levels of Nrf2‐mediated antioxidant genes also increase (Paredes‐Gonzalez et al, ).…”