Immunomodulatory role of Emblica officinalis in arsenic induced oxidative damage and apoptosis in thymocytes of mice

Abstract

BackgroundArsenic is widely distributed in the environment and has been found to be associated with the various health related problems including skin lesions, cancer, cardiovascular and immunological disorders. The fruit extract of Emblica officinalis (amla) has been shown to have anti-oxidative and immunomodulatory properties. In view of increasing health risk of arsenic, the present study has been carried out to investigate the protective effect of amla against arsenic induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in thymocytes of mice.MethodsMice were exposed to arsenic (sodium arsenite 3 mg/kg body weight p.o.) or amla (500 mg/kg body weight p.o.) or simultaneously with arsenic and amla for 28 days. The antioxidant enzyme assays were carried out using spectrophotometer and generation of ROS, apoptotic parameters, change in cell cycle were carried out using flow cytometer following the standard protocols.ResultsArsenic exposure to mice caused a significant increase in the lipid peroxidation, ROS production and decreased cell viability, levels of reduced glutathione, the activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, cytochrome c oxidase and mitochondrial membrane potential in the thymus as compared to controls. Increased activity of caspase-3 linked with apoptosis assessed by the cell cycle analysis and annexin V/PI binding was also observed in mice exposed to arsenic as compared to controls. Co-treatment with arsenic and amla decreased the levels of lipid peroxidation, ROS production, activity of caspase-3, apoptosis and increased cell viability, levels of antioxidant enzymes, cytochrome c oxidase and mitochondrial membrane potential as compared to mice treated with arsenic alone.ConclusionsThe results of the present study exhibits that arsenic induced oxidative stress and apoptosis significantly protected by co-treatment with amla that could be due to its strong antioxidant potential.

(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Inhibits Arsenic-Induced Inflammation and Apoptosis through Suppression of Oxidative Stress in Mice

“…Numerous studies have shown that EGCG possesses extensive pharmacological actions in various diseases, including immunosuppression in mice [18]. It has been reported that there is a positive correlation between the application of EGCG and reduction of heavy metal poisoning-related risk in both epidemiological and experimental studies.…”

“…Blood/tissues were collected as previously described [18]. At the end of the experimental period (30 days), a set of animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation.…”

Arsenic and human health effects: A review

“…Apart from macrophages, iAs also impairs the development, activation, proliferation and function of lymphocytes (Banerjee et al, 2009;Martin-Chouly et al, 2011;Ostrosky-Wegman et al, 1991). Arsenic exposure affects human lymphocytes following a variety of mechanisms such as increasing free radicals within the cells, oxidative damage, apoptosis, DNA strand damage, modification of DNA bases, crosslinking proteins, lipid peroxidation (Singh et al, 2013). It is evident that Page 17 of 86 A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t arsenic promotes inflammation in vivo and prolonged exposure to arsenic may increase the expression of inflammatory molecules in the body .…”

Arsenic-induced dose-dependent modulation of the NF-κB/IL-6 axis in thymocytes triggers differential immune responses

“…The animals were exposed to sodium arsenite (Sigma ALDRICH, USA) through drinking water for 30 days (Singh et al, 2013 and. The three doses of arsenic that were selected for the study were 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 mg/L.…”