Protective Effects of Chrysin against Cyclophosphamide-Induced Cardiotoxicity in Rats: A Biochemical and Histopathological Approach.

Mounting evidences have indicated that cyclophosphamide (CyC)a potent anticancer and cytotoxic agent is associated with various organ and systemic toxicities and the cytotoxic effects observed after administration of CyC still challenges its clinical use. Chrysin (Chy) is a dietary flavonoid with prevailing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This study evaluated the protective properties of Chy against CyC-induced cardiotoxicity in rats. The animals were orally treated with Chy (25 and 50 mg/kg/day) for 35 days and exposed to CyC (i. p., 100 mg/kg) once a week for four weeks. The results indicated that CyC caused significant cardiotoxicity as manifested by notable increases in heart weight, cardiac function biomarkers such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), troponin T and aspartate transaminase (AST). In addition, cardiac malondialdehyde (MDA), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 1ß (IL1 ß) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels were considerably increased. Meanwhile, cardiac antioxidant enzymes activities such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), as well as glutathione (GSH) level were suppressed, while H&E stained histopathological assessment showed marked alterations in cardiac tissues. CyC also significantly lowered red blood cells (RBC) and white blood cells (WBC) parameters, whereas treatment with Chy significantly restored the altered biochemical and histopathological features. Conclusively, aforementioned results inferred that Chy offered cardioprotective potentials against CyC-induced cardiotoxicity which may be due to its antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties.

[Analysis of microbial community of heat resistant microorganisms in Chinese herbal pieces].

To investigate the composition and diversity of heat resistant microorganisms in contaminated Chinese herbal pieces. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) protein fingerprinting and 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing of Illumina Miseq were used to analyze the heat resistant microbial community of 9 varieties of Chinese herbal pieces. Stem pieces (Spatholobi Caulis, Tetrapanacis Medulla, Stachyuri Medulla) showed highest detection rate and most species of contaminants; However fruit pieces (Schisandrae Sphenantherae Fructus) had the lowest detection rate and least species of contaminants; among root pieces, the detection rate and number of contaminants species were lower in Tuber Dioscoreae Persimilis and Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata. The heat resistant microbial community was mainly of Bacillaceae and Paenibacillaceae, and Bacillus showed the highest detection rate among them, followed by Brevibacillus, Paenibacillus, and Solibacillus. The rest genus in high-throughput sequencing analysis included Enterobacter, Brevundimonas, Leuconostoc, Methylobacterium, Dechloromonas, Pantoea, Klebsiella, and Erwinia. There were potential risk factors in heat resistant microbial community of Chinese herbal pieces, so we shall improve the microbial limit standard, strictly control the pathogenic bacteria in the product, and strengthen the supervision and management in production and circulation of Chinese herbal pieces.