DISCUSSION
Dox is considered as one of the most potent anticancer agents. Its therapeutic application is limited due to its deleterious effects on normal tissues, such as the liver and heart (Ibrahim et al., 2010; Wang et al., 2012). However, the mechanisms of Dox-mediated cytotoxicity in normal tissues and cancer cells are different (Wang et al., 2012). In its mechanisms of action, Dox may act through DNA intercalation, membrane function alteration, and ROS formation (King and Perry, 2001). Dox is considerably metabolized in the liver (King and Perry, 2001); thereby, the liver is one of the organs that are mostly affected by Dox toxicity.
| Figure 5. Effect of green tea aqueous extract and epicatechin on liver NF-κB mRNA expression relative to β-actin in Dox-administered rats. a,bSignificant difference in comparison with the corresponding control and Dox-administered groups, respectively, at p < 0.05. Percentage changes were calculated in relation to the normal control and Dox-administered groups, respectively.
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It is worth mentioning from many previous publications that Dox is considered as the most toxic anthracyclines and causes weight loss (Danz et al., 2009; Panjrath et al., 2007; Sayed-Ahmed et al., 2010). For this reason, overdosage and long-term administration of this drug causes toxicity and death.
The main toxic and deleterious effects on hepatocytes include disruption of electron transport and oxidative stress and arrest cell cycle of hepatocytes (Kassner et al., 2008; Zhao et al., 2012). To reduce the toxic and side effects of Dox, various strategies were reported (EL-Hak et al., 2018; Jabłońska-Trypuć et al., 2018). The newly developed chemotherapeutic drugs often cause many side effects that restrict their use which are mostly oxidative stress-dependent (Ahmed and Abdella, 2010). Therefore, recent studies hypothesized that the combination of the chemotherapeutic drug such as Dox together with a potent natural antioxidant may be the appropriate approach to mitigate the toxic side effects of this kind of drugs (Ahmed and Abdella, 2010; Injac et al., 2008).
The present study revealed that Dox injected weekly at dose 4 mg Dox/kg b.w. through intraperitoneal route for 6 weeks induced hepatotoxicity which was biochemically manifested by a significant elevation of serum ALT, AST, ALP, and GGT activities and bilirubin level in addition to a significant lowering in serum level of albumin. These changes run parallel with Ahmed et al. (2013) and Injac et al. (2008) who attributed the elevation in the serum enzyme activities to their excess leakage from degenerated hepatocytes and damage in bile ductular cells membranes as a result of toxicity. The significant decrease in serum albumin level in Dox-administered rats is in accordance with EL-Maraghy et al. (2009) who attributed this change to alterations in protein and free amino acid metabolism and their synthesis in the injured hepatocytes and/or increased protein degradation. On the other hand, the elevation in the total bilirubin level in serum of Dox-administered rats may be due to blockage of bile canaliculi as a result of inflammatory cells infiltration, fibroblast proliferation and fibrosis in the portal areas, and/or may be owing to regurgitation of direct (conjugated) bilirubin from the necrotic liver cells to sinusoids (Ahmed, 2001; Deepa and Varalakshmi, 2003; Saad et al., 2001).
| Figure 6. A photomicrograph of liver section of normal rats showing a normal histological structure of hepatic lobule and depicting a CV, hepatic strands or trabeculae (T) with sinusoids (S) and Kupffer cells (Kc) in-between (H&E ×400).
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The previous deleterious biochemical alterations of liver biomarkers in serum of Dox-administered rats in the current study were accompanied with a remarkable increase in liver LPO and a significant suppression in the liver levels of non-enzymatic antioxidant (GSH) as well as enzymatic antioxidants (SOD, GPx, and GST). These results are in concurrence with those obtained by several authors (Abd El-Aziz et al., 2001; Ahmed et al., 2013; Balachandar et al., 2003; Kalender et al., 2005; Patel et al., 2010; Yagmurca et al., 2007) who stated that one of the most convincing hypotheses of hepatic injury due to Dox injection is the ability of the drug to produce excess free radicals and lipid peroxides and to suppress free radical scavenging capacity and antioxidant defensive mechanism.
Histopathological investigation of liver sections of Dox-administered rats in the present study supported the previous biochemical results. The liver of Dox-administered rats showed congested CVs, hyperemic sinusoids, Kupffer cell multiplication, strands of fibroblasts around the hepatocytes, cytoplasmic vacuolization of hepatocytes, fibrosis of hepatic capsule, and periductal fibroblastic proliferation around the bile ductules. These results are in concordance with Yagmurca et al. (2007) who reported destructive damage of hepatocytes, necrotic foci, blood congestion, and proliferation of bile canaliculi in Dox-supplemented rats.
| Figure 7. Photomicrographs of liver section of Dox-administered rats showing: (a) strands of fibroblasts (Fb) around the hepatocytes and vacuolization (V) of hepatocytes (H&E ×400); (b) fibrosis of hepatic capsule and vacuolization (V) of hepatocytes (H&E ×400); and (c) fibroplasia of bile duct and vacuolization (V) of hepatocytes (H&E ×400).
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Antioxidants obtained from natural sources and plants represent a logical treatment strategy for therapy of liver diseases. In this regard, there are many plant-derived chemicals with powerful antioxidant properties that may serve as primary compounds for developing novel hepatoprotective drugs (Girish and Pradhan, 2012; Pradhan and Girish, 2006). Green tea and its constituting catechins are best known for their free radical scavenging capabilities, which have led to their evaluation in a number of diseases associated with exacerbated production of ROS, such as diabetes mellitus, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and cardiovascular disorders. Several epidemiological and meta-analysis studies as well as studies in animal models have depicted that green tea can afford protection against various types of cancers including breast, skin, lung, and prostate cancers (Mukhtar and Ahmad, 2000; Yang et al., 2002). The epicatechin as one of the major constituent of green tea is considered as one of the most potent antioxidant component of catechin (Ishige et al., 2001) due to its higher free radical scavenging activity (Kostyuk et al., 2004) and its greater bioavailability over other catechin components (Baba et al., 2001).
In conduction with the previous studies, the treatment of Dox-administered rats with green tea aqueous extract and epicatechin potentially alleviated the raised serum ALT, AST, and ALP enzyme activities and bilirubin level. The lowered serum albumin level was detectably increased in Dox-administered rats treated with green tea aqueous extract and epicatechin. These improvements in serum biomarkers of liver function were associated with potential amendment of liver integrity and architecture and amelioration of Dox-induced deleterious hispathological changes. These alterations are in concordance with the previously published report of Mandziuk et al. (2015) who depicted that Dox-induced inflammation, eosinophilic degeneration, and interstitial edematous changes were markedly reduced by green tea. The ameliorative effects of green tea aqueous extract and epicatechin may be attributed to the potentiation of the antioxidant defense system and suppression of ROS generation. It is important here to mention that the ALP activity was more decreased in the Dox-administered rats treated with green tea aqueous extract and epicatechin than the normal control. The decrease lower than the normal due to treatment with green tea may be attributed to the presence of epigallocatechin gallate and gallocatechin gallate, which have inhibitory effects on phosphatases (Okamoto et al., 2003) due to the presence of galloyl moiety in the structure. The epicatechin may also have inhibitory effects on ALP activity. The serum activity of GGT, responsible for extracellular GSH, was significantly increased as a result of treatment of Dox-administered rats with epicatechin. This up-regulation of GGT activity may be attributed in the light of suggestion of Chinta et al. (2006) who hypothesized that increased GGT activity may be an adaptive response to the loss of glutathione to conserve intracellular GSH content and results in a compensatory effect on mitochondrial complex I activity rather than in its inhibition and decrease following improvement of hepatobiliary function.
| Figure 8. Photomicrographs of liver sections of Dox-administered rats treated with green tea. (a and b) Marked recovery of normal structure except the presence of few Kupffer cells (Kc) activation and binucleation of hepatocytes (BNH) (H&E ×400).
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In the present study, the treatment of Dox-injected rats with green tea aqueous extract and epicatechin reduced liver LPO and increased the liver GSH level and GPx, GST, and SOD enzyme activities. These antioxidative features of green tea and its catechin have been reported in previous in vivo studies, which demonstrated that dietary intake of green tea catechins can improve total antioxidant capacity and can decrease the level malondialdehyde (MDA), as a biomarker of LPO, in the rat’s liver, blood, and brain (Skrzydlewska et al., 2000). In another study, Quine and Raghu (2005) showed that epicatechin supplementation at a dose of 15 and 30 mg/kg b.w. in diabetic rats produced a significant decrease in MDA levels and increase in GSH concentration and SOD, GPx, and catalase (CAT) activities in the liver. In the same regard, Rizvi et al. (2005) had revealed that epicatechin treatment produced an elevation in GSH content in red blood cells of both normal and type 2 diabetic subjects. Rizvi and Zaid (2001) have also stated that tea catechins (epicatechin is being one of the components) protect type 2 diabetic red blood cells from tert-butyl hydroperoxide-induced oxidative stress. Moreover, Cuevas et al. (2009) found that epicatechin produced a significant decrease in LPO and reactive oxygen species in amyloid-β-treated rats. Mohamed et al. (2011) reported that SOD, CAT, and GPx in the brain tissues in Dox-administered rats were normalized and the elevated level of MDA was decreased upon using epicatechin supplementation. The strong free radical scavenging activity of epicatechin might be due to its antioxidant property as a result of the presence of adjacent hydroxyl (OH) groups on the same ring (Cuevas et al., 2009; Haque et al., 2006; Mohamed et al., 2011; Rahman, 2016). In the present study, the chemical analysis of green tea extract indicated the presence of many free radical scavenging constituents including gallic acid, (-)-gallocatechin, (-)-gallocatechin, (-)-epicatechin, (-)-epigallocatechin, (-)-epigallocatechin gallate, (-)-gallocatechin gallate, (-)-epicatechin gallate, (-)-catechin gallate, and caffeine.
| Figure 9. Photomicrographs of liver sections of Dox-administered rats treated with epicatechin. (a) Slight thickening of hepatic capsule (THC) (H&E ×400) and (b) apparent normal hepatocytes (H&E ×400).
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| Figure 10. Photomicrographs of immunohistochemical stained liver sections for COX-2 expression detection. (a) A photomicrograph of immunohistochemical staining of COX-2 in liver of normal control rat showing a weak expression of COX-2 (×400). (b) A photomicrograph of immunohistochemical staining of COX-2 in liver of Dox-administered rats showing a strong stimulated expression of COX-2 (immunopositivity indicated by brownish color) (×400). (c) A photomicrograph of immunohistochemical staining of COX-2 in liver of Dox-administered rats treated with green tea showing a weak expression of COX-2 (immunopositivity indicated by brownish color) (×400). (d) A photomicrograph of immunohistochemical staining of COX-2 in liver of Dox-administered rats treated with epicatechin showing a weak expression of COX-2 (immunopositivity indicated by brown color) (×400).
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Tumor marker AFP, a specific glycoprotein secreted from fetal liver and yolk sac, that rapidly falls few weeks after birth (Patil et al., 2013), is the most reliable serum marker for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (Wen-Jun et al., 2013). There was a marked elevation in serum AFP level in rats injected with Dox alone. This finding is consistent with the previous report which revealed that the injection of Dox to rats resulted in the increase of serum AFP level reflecting increased probability of and susceptibility to HCC (Kim et al., 2010). On the other hand, the Dox-injected groups treated with green tea and epicatechin showed an improvement in the serum level of AFP reflecting their potent anti-cancer and hepatoprotective effects. In agreement with the previous publication of Abozalam et al. (2016), Nakagami (2004), Rani et al. (2014), Shanmugam et al. (2017), and Tadesse et al. (2015) who reported the anticancer and antioxidant effects of green tea and epicatechin.
In the present study, the apoptotic mediators, p53, and caspase 3 expressions in liver were markedly elevated in Dox-administered rats while expression of anti-apoptotic marker Bcl-2 was significantly lowered. The treatment of Dox-administered rats with green tea aqueous extract and epicatechin prevented these alterations. The augmented apoptosis in Dox-administered rats may be attributed to the activated oxidative stress. This attribution was supported by Patel et al. (2010) who stated that oxidative stress has been implicated as a contributor factor to various forms of cell death, involving a specific inducer of apoptosis. In turn, the reduced apoptosis in the liver as a result of the treatment of Dox-injected rats with green tea aqueous extract and epicatechin may result secondary to the suppressed oxidative stress and enhanced antioxidant defense system. This suggestion runs parallel with Spencer et al. (2001) who evidenced that 3′-O-methyl epicatechin inhibits H2O2-induced cell death and that the mechanism involves attenuation of caspase-3 activity as an apoptotic marker.
| Figure 11. Photomicrographs of immunohistochemical stained liver sections for caspase-3 expression detection. (a) A photomicrograph of immunohistochemical staining of caspase-3 in liver of normal control rat showing a weak expression of caspase-3 (×400). (b) A photomicrograph of immunohistochemical staining of caspase-3 in liver of Dox-administered rats showing a strong augmented expression of caspase-3 (immunopositivity indicated by brownish color) (×400). (c) A photomicrograph of immunohistochemical staining of caspase-3 in liver of Dox-administered rats treated with green tea showing a weak expression of caspase-3 (immunopositivity indicated by brownish color) (×400). (d) A photomicrograph of immunohistochemical staining of caspase-3 in liver of Dox-administered rats treated with epicatechin showing a weak expression of caspase-3 (immunopositivity indicated by brownish color) (×400).
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To assess the effect on the inflammatory status, the levels of serum TNF-α and IL-4 were determined by ELISA, liver NF-κB mRNA expression was assayed by RT-PCR, and COX-2 was assayed by immunohistochemical technique.
In the current study, the level of pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α in serum was significantly elevated in Dox-administered rats while the level of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4 was significantly decreased reflecting the preponderance of T helper 1 (Th1) and the presence of elevated Th1: T helper 2 (Th2) cell ratio. These data are in concurrence with Shankar et al. (2007) who found that injection of Dox augments a peripheral increase in the cytokine TNF-α, which stimulates several inflammatory pathways. As indicated by Tangpong et al. (2006), TNF-α induces mitochondrial malfunction by its downstream consequences, leading to further increase in cytochrome C release, oxidative stress, caspase 3 activity, and TUNEL-positive cell death, all of which are implicated as inducers of apoptosis following Dox injection. On the other hand, IL-4 was reported to inhibit multiple functions of activated macrophages, including macrophage production of TNF-α and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and the macrophage secretion of reactive oxygen intermediates and up-regulate expression of interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist (Abramson and Gallin, 1990; Hart et al., 1989; Vannier et al., 1992). It also activates macrophage 15 lipoxygenase activity, which may suppress the synthesis of pro-inflammatory leukotriene B4 (LTB4) (Katoh et al., 1994). The treatments of Dox-administered rats with green tea aqueous extract and epicatechin, in the present study, improved the deteriorations in both TNF-α and IL-4 levels reflecting dominance of Th2 cells. Thus, both green tea aqueous extract and epicatechin may have potent anti-inflammatory effects by activating the production Th2 cytokines and suppressing the activity of Th1 cells.
It was also evidenced in the present study that the liver NF-κB and COX-2 expressions were remarkably increased in Dox-administered rats and were recovered toward normal levels as a result of treatments of Dox-administered rats with green tea aqueous extract and epicatechin. These results are in concurrence with many previous reports. Lagha and Grenier (2015) found that black and green tea polyphenols suppress the inflammatory response of monocytes/macrophages mediated by Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum). They also first stated that the black and green tea extracts, theaflavins, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) reduce the NF-κB activation induced by F. nucleatum in monocytes. It is also relevant here to mention that NF-κB is a key regulator of genes coding for inflammatory mediators including of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), TNF-α, IL-6, and C-X-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 8 (CXCL8) by macrophages (Lagha and Grenier, 2015). Many other publications revealed the inhibitory effects of EGCG, which is a major component of green tea on NF-κB activation as well as TNF-α and COX-2 expression (Aggarwal and Shishodia, 2006; Gupta et al., 2004; Shankar et al., 2008; Shimizu et al., 2004). In the same way, Mohamed et al. (2011) reported that the treatment with epicatechin prior to Dox in rats significantly prevented the increase in TNF-α, iNOS, and NF-κB expressions.
In conclusion, the C. sinensis aqueous extract and epicatechin have potent preventive effects against Dox-induced hepatotoxicity. The suppression of oxidative stress, the enhancement of antioxidant defense system, the modulatory effects of inflammatory signaling pathways, and anti-apoptotic actions all are implicated to prevent the Dox-induced hepatotoxicity and to improve the liver architecture and integrity. Thus, Camellia sinesis aqueous extract and epicatechin may be useful substances for patients treated with Dox.
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