Protective effects of pine bark extract against cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress in rats

Abstract

We investigated the protective effects of pine bark extract (pycnogenol®, PYC) against cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress in rats. Twenty-four male rats were divided into the following four groups: (1) vehicle control, (2) cisplatin (7.5 mg/kg), (3) cisplatin & PYC 10 (10 mg/kg/day), and (4) cisplatin & PYC 20 (20 mg/kg/day). A single intraperitoneal injection of cisplatin induced hepatotoxicity, as evidenced by an increase in serum aminotransferase and histopathological alterations, including degeneration/necrosis of hepatocytes, vacuolation, and sinusoidal dilation. In addition, an increase in the malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration and a decrease in the reduced glutathione (GSH) content and catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities were observed in the cisplatin-treated rat hepatic tissues. In contrast, PYC treatment effectively prevented cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity, including the elevation of aminotransferase and histopathological lesions, in a dosedependent manner. Moreover, PYC treatment also induced antioxidant activity by decreasing MDA level and increasing GSH content and SOD and GST activities in liver tissues. These results indicate that PYC has a protective effect against acute hepatotoxicity induced by cisplatin in rats, and that the protective effects of PYC may be due to inhibiting lipid peroxidation and increasing antioxidant activity.

Hepatoprotective and antioxidant potential of Pycnogenol® in acetaminophen‐induced hepatotoxicity in rats

“…This is in accordance with the results of the study investigating the effects of PYC on carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatic oxidative damage in rats, where the significant dosedependent decrease in the hepatic content of MDA level confirmed that concomitant administration with PYC could prevent against the LPx. This is also in good correlation with already published study (Ko et al, 2014), which showed significant decrease in a dosedependent manner in the cisplatin and PYC groups, compared with GPx level in septic rats (Taner et al, 2014). However, our result is comparable with similar studies (Rašković et al, 2015) where it was confirmed that APAP induced increase of GPx activity.…”

“…This is in accordance with the results of the study investigating the effects of PYC on carbon tetrachloride–induced hepatic oxidative damage in rats, where the significant dose‐dependent decrease in the hepatic content of MDA level confirmed that concomitant administration with PYC could prevent against the LPx. This is also in good correlation with already published study (Ko et al, ), which showed significant decrease in a dose‐dependent manner in the cisplatin and PYC groups, compared with the cisplatin group. Similarly, hepatic MDA levels were found to significantly increase in both sepsis and sepsis plus PYC groups compared with the control group, and the levels were found to significantly decrease in the sepsis plus PYC group compared with control (Taner et al, ).…”

“…The hepatoprotective effects of PYC have been documented in experimental model of liver injury with cisplatin (Ko et al, 2014) and carbon tetrachloride (Ahn et al, 2007;Young et al, 2008). Despite the favorable pharmacological properties of PYC, its protective capacity against hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress caused by acetaminophen (APAP) has not been previously explored.…”

Animal models of hepatotoxicity

“…Cisplatin induced hepatotoxicity by different concentration (3.5-7 mg/kg i.p. for 1-5 days) [47][48][49][50]. At the end of experiment blood is collected for estimation of liver biomarker enzymes.…”

Pine bark extract (Pycnogenol®) suppresses cigarette smoke-induced fibrotic response via transforming growth factor-β1/Smad family member 2/3 signaling

“…Pycnogenol® (PYC, pine bark extract) is a trade name and a standardized mixture of the bark of French maritime pine [8]. Recent reports have demonstrated that PYC significantly suppresses inflammation, fat accumulation, and fibrosis in the liver and heart [910].…”