Preliminary report Effect of morin-5 0 -sulfonic acid sodium salt on the expression of apoptosis related proteins caspase 3, Bax and Bcl 2 due to the mercury induced oxidative stress in albino rats Rantham Subramaniam Venkatesan*, Abdul Majeeth Mohamed Sadiq P.G and Research Department of Biochemistry, Adhiparasakthi College of Arts and Science, (Autonomous) G.B.Nagar, Kalavai, Vellore District, Tamilnadu 632506, India A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 16 December 2015 Received in revised form 22 September 2016 Accepted 22 September 2016 Keywords: Mercury Morin Bcl-2 Caspase3 Bax Apoptosis A B S T R A C T Many environmental contaminants have been reported to disturb the pro-oxidant or antioxidant balance of the cells by inducing oxidative stress. Oxidative stress mediated by the HgCl 2 induces DNA, protein and lipid oxidation resulted in necrosis or apoptosis, or both. Currently flavonoids are being emerging topic and reported to have antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti- tumor and antioxidant activities. Morin is one of the flavonoid protects the cells from oxygen free radical damage and scavenges the free radicals and metals and also heals the injured cells commercially. Morin hydrate is sparingly soluble in water. Hence, the water soluble morin -5 0 - sulfonic acid sodium salt (NaMSA) was selected and synthesized. Aim of the present study was to analyze the effect of morin-5 0 -sulfonic acid sodium salt on the expression of apoptosis related proteins caspase 3, Bax and Bcl 2 due to the mercury induced oxidative stress in albino rats.. The experimental rats were exposed to sub lethal concentration of mercuric chloride (1.25 mg/kg) and the ameliorating effect of NaMSA was studied by using apoptotic protein markers Bax and caspase-3 and Bcl-2. The obtained results were analyzed using one way analysis of variance by the Duncan’s Multiple comparison test to determine the level of significance (p) and p < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Administration of mercuric chloride (1.25 mg/kg) in the experimental rats increased the expression of Bax and caspase-3 and a decreased expression was noted in the Bcl-2 level compared with control bands significantly (p < 0.05). On the other hand NaMSA (50 mg/kg) and HgCl 2 (1.25 mg/kg) simultaneous administration did not bring any change in the protein expression of Bax, Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 levels compared with control rats. Hence, the membrane damage was protected, stopped the cell death and apoptosis. This could be due to the morin-5 0 -sulfonic acid sodium salt effective chelation action on the HgCl 2 generated free radicals. © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Mercury is a widespread environmental and industrial pollut- ant, induces severe alterations in the tissues of both animals and humans. It is still a worldwide problem ever since the outbreak of its poisoning in Minamata in Japan in the 1950s and in Iraq in 1971- 72 [1]. About 100 tons of organomercurials are produced every year [2] from Fish, Pesticides in agriculture, fluorescent light bulbs, paints, cosmetics, air emissions, fungicide industry. It is a highly toxic metal results in a variety of adverse neurological, renal, respiratory, immune, dermatological, reproductive problems in target organs [3]. 1.1. Mechanism Multiple mechanisms proposed to explain the biological toxicity of HgCl 2 by investigating the biochemical fate of various forms of Hg [4]. Hg 2+ form has great affinity for endogenous biomolecules-associated with thiol (-SH) group [5] and it is invariably attached to SH-containing proteins, small- molecular weight peptides and amino acid [6], Consequently, the oxidative stress is one of the crucial mechanisms in Hg-induced pathological aspects [6] resulted in profound deterioration of vital metabolic processes [7,8]. * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: mercury.morin@gmail.com (R.S. Venkatesan), mohamed68@rediffmail.com (A.M.M. Sadiq). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2016.09.090 0753-3322/© 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy xxx (2016) xxx–xxx G Model BIOPHA 4377 No. of Pages 7 Please cite this article in press as: R.S. Venkatesan, A.M.M. Sadiq, Effect of morin-5 0 -sulfonic acid sodium salt on the expression of apoptosis related proteins caspase 3, Bax and Bcl 2 due to the mercury induced oxidative stress in albino rats, Biomed Pharmacother (2016), http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.biopha.2016.09.090 Available online at ScienceDirect www.sciencedirect.com