Astragalus polysaccharides alleviate tilmicosin-induced toxicity in rats by inhibiting oxidative damage and modulating the expressions of HSP70, NF-kB and Nrf2/HO-1 pathway.

The present study evaluated the toxic effects of Tilmicosin (TIL) on adult rats. The rats received a single subcutaneous injection of TIL at different doses (10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 mg/kg bw). TIL altered the biochemical parameters including liver and kidney function markers, glucose level and lipid profile as well as resulted in histopathological lesions in liver and adrenal glands mostly in rats exposed to 75 and 100 mg/kg bw. Then the role of Astragalus polysaccharide (APS) at 100 and 200 mg/kg bw, in modulating the toxic effects induced by high dose of TIL was evaluated. Single injection of TIL at a dose of 75 mg/kg bw was found to increase the activity of ALT, AST and ALP enzymes, induce the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and decrease the total antioxidant capacity (TAC). TIL upregulated the hepatic mRNA expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) while blocked the Nrf2/HO-1 mediated response. These changes were also associated with increasing tumer necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interlukin1-beta (IL-1β) and nitric oxide levels. On the other hand, the results indicate that APS has a beneficial role particularly at high level in alleviating the stress and the hepatotoxic effects elicited by TIL injection in rats.