ABSTRACT
Increasing air pollution is associated with serious human health problems. P-coumaric acid (PC) is a herbal phenolic compound that exhibits beneficial pharmacological potentials. Here, the protective effect of PC on liver injury induced by air pollution was examined. Thirty-two adult male Wistar rats (200-250 g) were divided randomly into four groups (n = 8). The groups were; Control (rats received DMSO and then exposed to clean air), PC (rats received PC and then exposed to clean air), DMSO + Dust (rats received DMSO and then exposed to dust), and PC + Dust (the animals received PC and then exposed to dust). The clean air, DMSO, PC, and dust were administrated 3 days a week for 6 consecutive weeks. The rats were anesthetized and their blood samples and liver sections were taken to conduct molecular, biomedical, and histopathological tests. Dust exposure increased the liver enzymes, bilirubin, triglyceride, cholesterol, and the production of liver malondialdehyde, and decreased in liver total anti-oxidant capacity and serum high-density lipoprotein. It also increased the mRNA expression of inflammatory-related cytokines, decreased the mRNA expression of SIRT-1, decreased the expression levels of miR-20b5p, and MEG3 while increased the expression levels of miR-34a, and HOTAIR. Dust exposure also increased the liver content of three cytokines TNF-α, NF-κB, HMGB-1, and ATG-7 proteins. PC enhanced liver function against adverse effects of dust through recovering almost all the studied variables. Exposure to dust damaged the liver through induction of oxidative stress, inflammation, and autophagy. PC protected the liver against dust-induced cytotoxicity.
Subject(s)
MicroRNAs , RNA, Long Noncoding , Humans , Rats , Male , Animals , Particulate Matter/toxicity , Rats, Wistar , RNA, Long Noncoding/genetics , RNA, Long Noncoding/metabolism , Dimethyl Sulfoxide/metabolism , Dimethyl Sulfoxide/pharmacology , Liver/metabolism , Dust , Cytokines/metabolism , MicroRNAs/metabolism , RNA, Messenger/metabolism , Oxidative StressABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of occult hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (OCI) among HD patients. Blood samples were taken from 79 HD patients and their sera were evaluated for the presence of anti-HCV. Both the sera and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were then checked for HCV RNA by nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Anti-HCV was positive among 4/79 (5.1%) of the patients. From 75 patients who were negative for anti-HCV, 71 (94.7%) patients were also negative for HCV RNA in sera samples but five of them were positive for HCV RNA in PBMCs. Totally, out of 79 patients, HCV RNA was detected in PBMCs of five (6.3%) patients, indicating that these patients had OCI. No significant difference was observed between the frequency of OCI and gender (P-value = .6). HCV genotype in all five cases of OCI was genotype 3a. Our study showed prevalence rate of 6.3% OCI infection in HD patients. Regarding the serious complications and the clinical importance of OCI in HD patients, sensitive diagnostic methods for identifying HCV RNA in the PBMCs should be implemented for all HD patients.