ABSTRACT
Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is one of the most widely used organophosphorus (OP) insecticides until 2000 when the United States Environmental Protection Agency restricted some of its domestic uses due to its toxicity. Despite this, CPF remains one of the most widely used OP insecticides. Eugenol is a flavoring agent used in cosmetic and food products. Furthermore, eugenol acts as a pro-oxidant and as an anti-oxidant, under certain circumstances. Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the possible immuno-toxicogical consequences produced by CPF on different immunological aspects and to assess the protective role of eugenol in attenuating the CPF-induced immunotoxicity. The changes in humoral and cell mediated-immunity were evaluated by measuring the level of immunoglobulin (IgG), lymphocyte viability, neutrophil phagocytic function assay, total white blood cells count (WBC) and relative differential white blood cells count. On the biochemical level, estimation of nitric oxide (NO) level and catalase activity was also undertaken. The treatment with CPF showed an inhibitory effect on the level of lymphocyte viability, neutrophil phagocytic index, total white blood cells count, relative lymphocyte count, IgG concentration and catalase activity. On the other hand, a high level of NO was detected upon animal treatment with CPF. Interestingly, eugenol pre- and post-treatment to CPF-treated group improved the lymphocyte viability, total white blood cells count, relative lymphocyte count, catalase activity and the NO level. Moreover, eugenol pre- and post-treatment recovered phagocytic activity of neutrophils and restored IgG level. In conclusion, eugenol has protective and curative roles in attenuating the CPF-induced immunotoxicity.
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to ascertain the potency of , Hibiscus rosa sinensis leaves extract,with 70% ethanol/ water, as potential natural antioxidant.The phytochemical screening identified the bioactive compounds of the dry extract; carbohydrates and/or glycosides, steroids and/or triterpenes, flavonoids and tannins.The total phenolic and the total flavonoids contents reached 48.4 mg catechol equivalent and 24.26 mg quercetin equivalent /g dry weight, respectively.We assayed in vitro total antioxidant capacity and reducing power of H. rosa extract (HRE), using butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and ascorbic acid (ASA) as references, respectively.HRE recorded two-fold stronger antioxidant capacity than that of BHT while its reducing power was less than that of ASA, with reaction time and extract concentration dependent manner. In addition we evaluated the scavenging activities of HRE for O2 •−, H2O2 and NO compared to that of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). BHA recorded up to (61.6%), (65.8%), and (37.3%), respectively, at 500 μg/ml. Scavenging ability of HRE was very closed to that of BHA, in case of O2 •− ( 60.4%) and NO ( 36.3%) while it was lower in case of H2O2 (48.5%). Finally, we investigate the protection effect of HRE against lipid peroxidation (LPO) and protein oxidation(PO) using Fe+3/ ascorbate oxidizing system. LPO shwed 2.5-fold increase while PO reduced 56% of –SH groups. The co-incubation of Fe+3/ascorbate with Hibiscus extract inhibited lipid and protein oxidative damage nearly with 31%, at 500 μg/ml. So, we can conclude that the in vitro study emphasized HRE effective antioxidant and scavenging activities which may be due to its phenolics and flavonoids contents.