Oxidative stress and hepatocellular injury induced by oral administration of Cr(3+) in chicken.

This study aims to investigate the oxidative stress and hepatocellular injury induced by Cr(3+) in chicken. Different doses of CrCl3 solutions (50% LD50 , 25% LD50 , and 12.5% LD50) and equivalent water were orally administered to chicken. Chicken liver samples were measured for the activities of antioxidant enzymes, the contents of glutathione, total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), malondialdehyde (MDA), and hydrogen peroxide to indirectly evaluate the oxidative stress in chicken liver. Results indicated that the oral administration of Cr(3+) at high dose significantly increased (P < 0.05) the MDA levels after 28 days of exposure, with decreased T-AOC, glutathione, and antioxidant enzymes activities. Low and medium doses groups show that T-AOC, glutathione, and antioxidant enzymes activities increased after 14 days, then decreased gradually, but low and medium groups higher than control group, only high group lower than control group finally. These statistics and histopathological analysis suggest that high dose and long-term exposure of Cr(3+) induce oxidative stress and hepatocellular injury.

Apelin-13 attenuates high glucose-induced calcification of MOVAS cells by regulating MAPKs and PI3K/AKT pathways and ROS-mediated signals.

Vascular calcification (VC) is an inducement of many cardiovascular diseases. Clinic evidences have confirmed that diabetes was the independent risk factor for VC, and the mechanism has not been well explored. Apelin as a ligand molecule is widely found in the cardiovascular system and showed potential in inhibiting VC, but the inhibitory effect and mechanism of apelin-13 against high glucose-induced VC have not been investigated yet. Herein, apelin-13 was employed to inhibit high glucose-induced VC in mouse aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (MOVAS), and the underlying mechanism was explored. The results showed that apelin-13 significantly inhibited high glucose-induced cells proliferation, migration and invasion of MOVAS cells. Apelin-13 also effectively attenuated high glucose-induced calcification by inhibiting alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and expression. Further investigation revealed that apelin-13 dramatically suppressed high glucose-induced DNA damage through inhibiting reactive oxide species (ROS) generation. Moreover, apelin-13 also effectively improved high glucose-induced dysfunction of MAPKs and PI3K/AKT. Inhibition of ERK by inhibitor (U0126) significantly blocked high glucose-induced calcification, which further confirmed the significance of MAPKs. Taken together, these results suggested that apelin-13 had the potential to attenuate high glucose-induced calcification of MOVAS cells by inhibiting ROS-mediated DNA damage and regulating MAPKs and PI3K/AKT pathways. Our findings validated the strategy of using apelin-13 maybe a novel way in treating high glucose-mediated VC.