The effects of quercetin on antioxidant and cytokine levels in rat hippocampus exposed to acute cadmium toxicity

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine cadmium neurotoxicity (Branca et al.  2018) and beneficial effect of quercetin (QE) (Kanter et al.  2016) against on neuronal damage in hippocampus exposed with acute cadmium (Cd). Adult male Wistar-Albino rats (n = 30) were used and divided into four groups as Control (C, n = 6), Cadmium (Cd, n = 8), Quercetin (Q, n = 8) and Cadmium + Quercetin (Cd + Q, n = 8). Cadmium (CdCl2, 4 mg kg-1 daily, s.c) were administrated to Cd and Cd+Q groups, and Quercetin (Q, 50 mg kg-1 daily, i.p) were administrated to Q and Cd + Q groups for 3 days, respectively. At 4th day after the treatments, hippocampal samples were taken from the four groups. Cadmium decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reduced glutathione (GSH) levels and the SOD activity and GSH level were markedly (p< 0.05) lower in Cd group than in the Q and C groups. Lipid peroxidation (MDA) levels were higher in Cd group when compared to the control, Q and Cd+Q groups. IL1 levels were found statistically higher in Cd group than in the control, Q and Cd+Q groups. IL-6 and TNF-alfa levels were significantly (p< 0.05) higher in Cd and Cd+Q groups than the Q and C groups.  In addition, IL10 levels were detected the lowest in Cd group when compared to other groups.  In conclusion, our results show that quercetin can be beneficial against to neurotoxic effects of acute cadmium toxicity in the rat hippocampus through upregulation of antioxidant system but down regulation of cytokine levels.