Arrested Acetylene-Induced Pulmonary and Testicular Toxicity in Rats Through Treatment With Polyphenols.

Occupational exposure to potentially harmful substances is one of the dangers associated with industrial jobs. This study evaluated the modulatory influence of selected dietary polyphenols on the pulmonotoxic and testiculotoxic effects of crude acetylene, an industrial gas used in welding metals. Wistar rats were exposed to 58 000 ppm acetylene, 20 min daily for 30 days, in a 36 L glass inhalation chamber. Some acetylene-exposed animals were treated concurrently with 30 mg/kg quercetin, rutin, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, or coumaric acid. At the end of the treatment sessions, the levels of superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, lactate dehydrogenase, and hormonal markers in rats exposed to acetylene were significantly decreased, with a concomitant increase in lipid peroxidation, nitric oxide level, cholesterol concentration, and histopathological abnormalities. These damaging biochemical and histopathological changes were significantly ameliorated in animals administered the polyphenols. Quercetin showed greater ameliorative activity than rutin while the phenolic acids exhibited increasing levels of ameliorative activity in the order: caffeic acid > ferulic acid > coumaric acid. These results indicate that inhalation of crude acetylene is deleterious to the lungs and testes, and polyphenols provide protection against these detrimental effects.

Salubrious effects of a vermiculite-cellulose-based bionanocomposite on oxidative stress indices and histomorphology of male Wistar rats.

There is a current interest from the food packaging, biomedical and agricultural sectors in hybrid materials formed from clays and natural polymeric compounds. However, research investigating the toxicity of vermiculite-cellulose nanocrystal (VERN) hybrid on the testes of Wistar rats is rare. Twenty rats, divided into control and treatment groups, were orally administered distilled water, 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg bw VERN daily for two consecutive weeks. At the termination of experiments, the testicular organo-somatic index, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and gamma-glutamyl transferase activities were not significantly changed by VERN relative to the controls. Contrarily, myeloperoxidase, glutathione peroxidase, and malondialdehyde levels were depleted in the testes of treated rats. Moreso, VERN increased follicle-stimulating and luteinizing hormones, and decreased testosterone levels at the 20 mg/kg dose. Histology of the testes revealed healthy looking Leydig cells at the doses of 5 and 10 mg/kg VERN. Overall, these results indicate that oral exposure of VERN was not overly deleterious to the redox and structural histoarchitecture in the testes of rats.