A preliminary study of the anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects of crocin against gastric ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats

• Main Authors: Seyyed Ali Mard (Author), Zahra Nikraftar (Author), Yaghoob Farbood (Author), Esrafil Mansouri (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo, 2015-09-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 2175-9790; 10.1590/S1984-82502015000300015
• Keywords: Crocina/efeito protetor; Mucosa gástrica/lesão/isquemia-reperfusão; Lesões gástricas/tratamento/estudo experimental; Caspase-3; Óxido nítrico sintase induzível; Pharmacy and materia medica; RS1-441
• Source: Brazilian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vol 51, Iss 3, Pp 637-642 (2015)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of crocin on gastric mucosal lesions caused by ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats. Thirty-two male rats were randomly divided into sham, I/R, I/R + crocin pretreatment and crocin alone groups. To induce I/R lesions, the celiac artery was clamped for 30 min, and the clamp was then removed to allow reperfusion for 3 h. Crocin-pretreated rats received crocin (15 mg/kg, i.p.) 30 min prior to the induction of I/R injury. Samples of gastric mucosa were collected to quantify the protein expression of caspase-3, an apoptotic factor, and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), a pro-inflammatory protein, by Western blot. Pretreatment with crocin decreased the total area of gastric lesions and decreased the protein expression levels of caspase-3 and iNOS induced by I/R injury. Our findings showed a protective effect of crocin in gastric mucosa against I/R injury. This effect of crocin was mainly mediated by reducing the protein expression of iNOS and caspase-3.