The effect of Usnea longissima extract on chemotherapy-associated multi-organ damage in rats

Abstract

The toxic effects of doxorubicin and cisplatin in various organs have been associated with oxidative stress. Studies have shown that Usnea longissima has strong antioxidant effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of ethyl acetate extract from Usnea longissima (ULE), which is known to have strong antioxidant effects, on chemotherapeutic-induced heart, kidney, liver and ovarian toxicity. Albino Wistar female rats were divided into five groups (12 rats per group): healthy (HG), doxorubicin (DOX), Cisplatin (CIS), Doxorubicin + ULE (DULE), Cisplatin + ULE (CULE). In this experiment, ULE was given 100 mg/kg orally. After 1 hour, 2.5 mg/kg doxorubicin and 2.5 mg/kg cisplatin were administered intraperitoneally. Drug treatments continued once a day for seven days. At the end of seven days, six rats from each group were euthanised and heart, kidney, liver and ovary tissues were analysed biochemically. The remaining rats were left in the laboratory with male rats for 45 days for reproduction. ULE inhibited chemotherapeutic-induced increase in malondialdehyde, tumour necrosis factor alpha and interleukin 6 and decrease in total glutathione in liver, kidney and ovarian tissues. ULE also inhibited the increase of blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase in serum. ULE treatment had no protective effect against doxorubicin and cisplatin cardiac toxicity. On the other hand, ULE also decreased the delay in pregnancy induced by chemotherapy. ULE may be considered as adjuvant therapy in patients receiving chemotherapy to reduce liver, kidney and ovarian toxicity.