Hepato-protective effect of Pleurotus ostreatus extracts in cadmium- intoxicated rats

Objectives: The toxicity of cadmium in various animal models, in particular the liver, has been studied. The objective of this research was to determine the antioxidant and the hepatoprotective role of Pleurotus ostreatus (PE) extract in Cadmium-intoxicated rats. Methods: Rats of the first group were used as control animals while rats of the second group were administered PE for 5 days. Animals of the third group were served as Cadmium intoxicated group and finally, rats of the fourth-group were treated orally with PE afterwards; cadmium was administered over 5 consecutive days. By using atomic absorption, the Cadmium concentration was measured in the liver. Hepatic histological changes were estimated through examination of stained tissue sections. The oxidative status in the liver was investigated through determining the concentration of glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), malondialdehyde (MDA) and the reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the liver homogenate. Finally the expression of Nrf2-mRNA was determined using real time PCR. Results: Cadmium induced major hepatic histopathological damage, elevated levels of cadmium, and hepatic oxidative stress where the concentration GSH, CAT, MDA and ROS were affected in the liver. Additionally, cadmium administration resulted in substantial up-regulation of Nrf2-mRNA expression. Moreover, PE attenuated the hepatic cadmium intoxication where it improved the histological impairments and the level of accumulated cadmium in liver tissue was decreased. Likewise, the treatment attenuated the oxidative stress and down-regulated the expression of Nrf2. Conclusions: Our results indicated that PE is associated with significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity and alleviated the hepatotoxicity induced by cadmium chloride.