Betulinic acid abates N‐nitrosodimethylamine‐induced changes in lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and inflammation in the liver and kidney of Wistar rats

Abstract

N-nitrosamines have been linked with cancer in humans due to their presence in drinking water and diets. This study evaluated the role of betulinic acid (BA) in abating oxidative stress, inflammation, and hyperlipidemia in rats treated with N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Twenty-four male rats were assigned into four equal groups. Group I served as the control, Group II received BA (25 mg/kg), Group III received NDMA (5 mg/kg) and, Group IV received BA (25 mg/kg) and NDMA (5 mg/kg). Results showed that the administration of NDMA significantly (p < 0.05) elevated malondialdehyde in the liver and kidney relative to controls. Activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione-S-transferase, and the level of glutathione were significantly (p < 0.05) decreased by NDMA, while treatment with BA elevated the activities of these enzymes in the liver and kidney. The BA lowered serum interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels against the NDMA effect. Furthermore, NDMA increased hepatic and renal triglyceride while phospholipids levels were decreased. NDMA significantly modulated the activities of drug-metabolizing enzymes (aniline hydroxylase, aminopyrine-N-demethylase, and uridyldiphosphoglucuronyltransferase), while BA was able to restore these enzymes to values close to controls. Histology revealed the presence of infiltration and fibroplasia in the liver, while cortical degeneration was noticed in the kidney in NDMA-administered rats. These lesions were reduced in the NDMA rats treated with BA. The findings suggest that BA improves NDMA-induced damage in the liver and kidney of rats through reactions that can be linked with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and lipid-lowering pathways.

Reactive oxygen species‐mediated activation of NLRP3 inflammasome associated with pyroptosis in Het‐1A cells induced by the co‐exposure of nitrosamines

“…Thus, it is crucial to study the effects of exposure to nitrosamines higher than the guideline value on human health. Some previous studies have confirmed that nitrosamines could cause inflammatory responses in the liver and kidney of rats (Adeleke & Adaramoye, 2021; Balaraman et al, 2021). Mixed exposure to nitrosamines and LPS in tobacco could lead to the inflammatory response in bronchial epithelial cells (Liu et al, 2021).…”

“…Thus, it is crucial to study the effects of exposure to nitrosamines higher than the guideline value on human health. Some previous studies have confirmed that nitrosamines could cause inflammatory responses in the liver and of rats (Adeleke & Adaramoye, 2021;Balaraman et al, 2021).…”

Source-specific nitrate intake and all-cause mortality in the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study

“…38 [25,55] 29 [19,42] 47 [32,68] 28 [19,41] 47 [32,67] 37 [25,53] 38 [25, 49 [29,81] 42 [23,72] 53 [32,87] 41 [22,70] 56 [34,92] 47 [28,75] 51 [29,88] Tea (g/d)…”

“…Indeed, participants with the highest intakes of additive-permitted meat sourced nitrate and nitrite are expected to live, on average, 4 months less than those with the lowest intakes. This may be due to an increase in inflammation and oxidative stress seen with exposure to NOCs [41,42]. While the literature on the effect of NOCs confounding-namely by sociodemographic, dietary, water pollutant, and air pollutant confounders-cannot be ruled out.…”

Glycosylated Zein Composite Nanoparticles for Efficient Delivery of Betulinic Acid: Fabrication, Characterization, and In Vitro Release Properties

“…Betulinic acid (BA) is a lupane-type pentaloidal triterpenoid that is widely distributed in the bark, leaves, flowers, and fruits of plants, such as birch, rosemary, perilla, loquat, clove, coffee, jujube, and apple [ 1 ]. Previous studies have shown that BA exerts various biological activities, such as antitumor, liver protection, anti-inflammatory, antihuman immunodeficiency virus, antioxidative stress, antiatherogenic, and antiobesity [ 2 ]. Among them, the antitumor activity of BA has been extensively studied, for example, in liver cancer [ 3 ].…”