Rotenone, an insecticide of botanical origin, causes toxicity through inhibition of complex I of the respiratory chain in mitochondria. This study was undertaken to determine whether rotenone-induced liver oxidant injury is prevented by erdosteine, a mucolytic agent showing antioxidant properties. There were four groups of Male Wistar Albino rats: group one was untreated as control; the other groups were treated with erdosteine (50 mg/kg per day, orally), rotenone (2.5 mg/mL once and 1 mL/kg per day for 60 days, i.p.) or rotenone plus erdosteine, respectively. Rotenone treatment without erdosteine increased xanthine oxidase (XO) enzyme activity and also increased lipid peroxidation in liver tissue (P < 0.05). The rats treated with rotenone plus erdosteine produced a significant decrease in lipid peroxidation and XO activities in comparison with rotenone group (P < 0.05). Erdosteine treatment with rotenone led to an increase in catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in comparison with the rotenone group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in nitric oxide (NO) level between groups. There were negative correlations between CAT activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) level (r = -0.934, P < 0.05) with between CAT and SOD activities (r = -0.714, P < 0.05), and a positive correlation between SOD activity and MDA level (r = 0.828, P < 0.05) in rotenone group. In the rotenone plus erdosteine group, there was a negative correlation between XO activity and NO level in liver tissue (r = -0.833, P < 0.05). In the light of these findings, erdosteine may be a protective agent for rotenone-induced liver oxidative injury in rats.
C1 Inonu Univ, Fac Med, Dept Gen Surg, Malatya, Turkey.
Inonu Univ, Fac Med, Dept Pharmacol, Malatya, Turkey.
Gaziosmanpasa Univ, Fac Med, Dept Biochem, Tokat, Turkey.
Inonu Univ, Fac Med, Dept Neurol, Malatya, Turkey.
Ankara Univ, Inst Forens Med, TR-06100 Ankara, Turkey.
Inonu Univ, Fac Med, Dept Physiol, Malatya, Turkey.