College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China; Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Pharmaceutical Development, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China; Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Laboratory Animals and Comparative Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China.
College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China; Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Pharmaceutical Development, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2018 Oct;161:655-661. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2018.06.046. Epub 2018 Jun 19.
Inorganic mercury is a toxic metal of worldwide concern, and causes serious cardiac injury. However, effective treatment for cardiac injury induced by mercuric chloride (HgCl) has not been fully identified. Luteolin (Lut) is a novel natural antioxidant. This study aimed to investigate the role of Lut on HgCl-induced cardiac injury. Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to 4 groups, control, Lut (80 mg/kg intragastrically), HgCl (80 mg/L, in drinking water), and HgCl + Lut groups. The results indicated that Lut significantly ameliorated cardiac histopathological damage, oxidative stress, and apoptosis induced by HgCl in the rat heart. Furthermore, Lut evidently increased levels of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (AKT), and nuclear factor-erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and its downstream proteins, and inhibited NF-κB activation in the heart of rats treated by HgCl. Taken together, our findings suggest that activating PI3K/AKT/Nrf2 signaling pathway is involved in the protective effect of Lut against HgCl-induced cardiac damage.
无机汞是一种具有全球危害性的有毒金属，可导致严重的心脏损伤。然而，对于氯化汞（HgCl）引起的心脏损伤，尚未完全确定有效的治疗方法。木犀草素（Lut）是一种新型的天然抗氧化剂。本研究旨在探讨 Lut 对 HgCl 诱导的心脏损伤的作用。雄性 Wistar 大鼠被随机分为 4 组，对照组、Lut（80mg/kg 灌胃）、HgCl（80mg/L，饮用水）和 HgCl+Lut 组。结果表明，Lut 显著改善了 HgCl 诱导的大鼠心脏的组织病理学损伤、氧化应激和细胞凋亡。此外，Lut 明显增加了磷酸肌醇 3-激酶（PI3K）、蛋白激酶 B（AKT）和核因子-红细胞 2 相关因子 2（Nrf2）及其下游蛋白的水平，并抑制了 HgCl 处理大鼠心脏中 NF-κB 的激活。综上所述，我们的研究结果表明，激活 PI3K/AKT/Nrf2 信号通路参与了 Lut 对 HgCl 诱导的心脏损伤的保护作用。
