Sayed Sadia, Ahsan Nazmul, Kato Masashi, Ohgami Nobutaka, Rashid Abdur, Akhand Anwarul Azim
Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
Nagoya J Med Sci. 2015 Feb;77(1-2):145-53.
Groundwater contamination of arsenic is the major cause of a serious health hazard in Bangladesh. No specific treatment is yet available to manage the large number of individuals exposed to arsenic. In this study, we evaluated the protective effects of Phyllanthus emblica (Indian gooseberry or Amla) leaf extract (PLE) on arsenic-mediated toxicity in experimental mice. Male Swiss albino mice were divided into three different groups (n=6/group). 'Control' mice received arsenic free water together with normal feed. Mice in the remaining two groups designated 'SA' and 'SA+PLE' were exposed to sodium arsenite (SA, 10 µg/g body weight/day) through drinking water in addition to receiving normal feed and PLE-supplemented feed, respectively. The weight gain of SA-exposed mice was decreased compared with the controls; however, this decrease in body weight gain was prevented when the feed was supplemented with PLE. A secondary effect of arsenic was enlargement of the liver, kidney and spleen of SA-group mice. Deposition of arsenic in those organs was demonstrated by ICP-MS. When PLE was supplemented in the feed the enlargement of the organs was minimized; however, the deposition of arsenic was not significantly reduced. These results indicated that PLE may not block arsenic deposition in tissue directly but rather may play a protective role to reduce arsenic-induced toxicity. Therefore, co-administration of PLE in arsenic-exposed animals might have a future therapeutic application for protecting against arsenic-mediated toxicity.
砷对地下水的污染是孟加拉国严重健康危害的主要原因。目前尚无针对大量接触砷的个体的特效治疗方法。在本研究中，我们评估了余甘子叶提取物（PLE）对实验小鼠砷介导毒性的保护作用。雄性瑞士白化小鼠分为三个不同组（每组n = 6）。“对照组”小鼠饮用无砷水并喂食正常饲料。其余两组分别标记为“SA”和“SA + PLE”，除了分别喂食正常饲料和添加PLE的饲料外，还通过饮用水让小鼠接触亚砷酸钠（SA，10μg/g体重/天）。与对照组相比，接触SA的小鼠体重增加减少；然而，当饲料中添加PLE时，体重增加的减少得到了预防。砷的另一个影响是SA组小鼠的肝脏、肾脏和脾脏肿大。通过电感耦合等离子体质谱（ICP-MS）证实了这些器官中砷的沉积。当饲料中添加PLE时，器官肿大最小化；然而，砷的沉积并没有显著减少。这些结果表明，PLE可能不会直接阻止砷在组织中的沉积，而是可能在减轻砷诱导的毒性方面发挥保护作用。因此，在接触砷的动物中联合使用PLE可能在未来具有预防砷介导毒性的治疗应用。
