Aquilegia vulgaris extract protects against the oxidative stress and the mutagenic effects of cadmium in Balb/c mice Sekena H. Abdel-Aziem a , Aziza A. El-Nekeety b , Ibrahim A. Barakat a , Mohamed I. Mohamed b , Mosaad A. Abdel-Wahhab b,n a Cell Biology Department, National Research Center, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt b Food Toxicology & Contaminants Department, National Research Center, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt article info Article history: Received 6 June 2009 Accepted 16 February 2010 Keywords: Cadmium Aquilegia vulgaris Mice Genotoxicity Oxidative stress DNA Chromosomal aberrations abstract Cadmium (Cd) is a non-essential element and is a widespread environmental pollutant. Exposure to cadmium can result in cytotoxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. The aim of the current work was to evaluate the protective effect of Aquilegia vulgaris extract against the oxidative stress and the genotoxicity induced by Cd using the chromosomal aberrations in somatic and germ cells assay and random amplified polymorphism DNA (RAPD-PCR) analysis. Forty male Balb/c mice were divided into four groups including the control group, Cd-treated group and the groups treated with the extract alone or plus Cd. The results indicated that Cd increased serum ALT, AST, urea, LDH, CK, lipid peroxidation in liver tissue accompanied with a significant decrease in GPX and SOD. Cd also increased the number of chromosomal aberrations in bone marrow and spermatocytes including structural and numerical aberrations. Animals treated with the extract alone were comparable to the control regarding all the tested parameters. The extract succeeded in preventing or diminishing the oxidative stress and the clastogenic effects of Cd. It could be concluded that Aquilegia vulgaris extract is a promising protective agent against oxidative stress and genotoxicity during the exposure to Cd. & 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Cadmium (Cd) is a widespread environmental pollutant, arising primarily from battery, electroplating, pigment, plastic and fertilizer industries. The general population is exposed to Cd via contaminants found in drinking water and food (WHO, 2000; ATSDR, 2008), cigarette smoke and alcoholic beverages (J¨ arup et al., 1998), while occupational exposure to Cd usually takes place during mining or manufacturing of batteries and pigments. Cd is considered as one of the most toxic transition metal elements and a potent industrial hazard that causes severe damage to a variety of tissues and organs including the liver, kidney and testis (Foulkes, 1986; Nogawa and Kido, 1996). Moreover, Cd is well known for other various adverse effects, e.g. disturbances of enzyme functions (Vallee and Ulmer, 1972), enhancement of lipid peroxidation (Manca et al., 1991), influence on mitochondrial functions (Southard et al., 1974) along with chromosomal aberrations (Jagetia and Adiga, 1994; Marazzini et al., 1994) and DNA chain break (Tsuzuki et al., 1994). Cd is a cytotoxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic metal with no known biological role. The genotoxic effects of Cd have been extensively studied in mammals and humans, and it has been shown that Cd is implicated in the induction of tumors in experimental animals and exposed human cell lines (Dalton et al., 2000; Jin et al., 2003). It has been suggested that the mechanism responsible for the genotoxicity of Cd may involve the direct interaction of Cd 2+ with DNA through the binding of Cd 2+ at G, A and T bases (Valverde et al., 2001; Hossain and Huq, 2002). Moreover, Cd acts as a mutagen primarily by direct inhibition of an essential DNA mismatch repair, resulting in a high level of genetic instability (Jin et al., 2003). Oxidative stress and inflammation are the main factors implicated in Cd induced tissue injury (Oteiza et al., 1999; Gupta et al., 2004). Several antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents were found to be effective in minimizing Cd-induced organ damage (Kara et al., 2007; Yadav and Khandelwal, 2008). Aquilegia vulgaris (L.) (Ranunculaceae) is a perennial herb indigenous in central and southern Europe, Asia and Africa. Decoction from leaves and stems of A. vulgaris has been used in folk medicine against liver and bile duct disorders, especially for the treatment of jaundice, and chronic skin inflammation. The herb is a component of the immunostimulating preparation Padma 28 and homeopathic drugs (PDR for Herbal Medicines, 2000). Phytochemical studies of A. vulgaris showed the presence of cyanogenic compounds, tannins, anthocyanins (H¨ ansel et al., 1992) and cycloartane derivatives showing immunosuppresive Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.de/etp Experimental and Toxicologic Pathology 0940-2993/$ - see front matter & 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.etp.2010.02.008 n Corresponding author. Tel.: + 202 2283 1943; fax: + 202 333 70931. E-mail address: mosaad_abdelwahhab@yahoo.com (M.A. Abdel-Wahhab). Experimental and Toxicologic Pathology 63 (2011) 337–344