Chromium (Cr) is used in many industries and it is widely distributed in the environment. Exposure to Cr dust has been reported among workers at these industries. Beside its hazardous effects on the lungs, brain injury could be induced, as the absorption of substances through the nasal membrane has been found to provide them a direct delivery to the brain. We investigated the distribution and the effects of Cr in both brain and lung following the intranasal instillation of potassium dichromate (inPDC) in rats. Simultaneously, we used the common intraperitoneal (ipPDC) rat model of acute Cr-toxicity for comparison. Thirty male Wistar rats were randomly allocated into five groups (n = 6); each received a single dose of saline, ipPDC (15 mg/kg), or inPDC in three dose levels: 0.5, 1, or 2 mg/kg. Locomotor activity was assessed before and 24 h after PDC administration, then, the lungs and brain were collected for biochemical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical investigations. Treatment of rats with ipPDC resulted in a recognition of 36% and 31% of the injected dose of Cr in the brain and lung tissues, respectively. In inPDC-treated rats, targeting the brain by Cr was increased in a dose-dependent manner to reach 46% of the instilled dose in the group treated with the highest dose. Moreover, only this high dose of inPDC resulted in a delivery of a significant concentration of Cr, which represented 42% of the instilled dose, to the lungs. The uppermost alteration in the rats locomotor activity as well as in the brain and lung histopathological features and contents of oxidative stress biomarkers, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), phosphorylated protein kinase B (PKB), and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) were observed in the rats treated with inPDC (2 mg/kg). The findings revealed that these toxic manifestations were directly proportional to the delivered concentration of Cr to the tissue. In conclusion, the study showed that a comparably higher concentrations of Cr and more elevated levels of oxidative stress and inflammatory markers were observed in brain and lung tissues of rats subjected to inPDC in a dose that is just 0.13 that of ipPDC dose commonly used in Cr-induced toxicity studies. Therefore, the study suggests a high risk of brain-targeting injury among individuals environmentally or occupationally exposed to Cr dust, even in low doses, and an additional risk of lung injury with higher Cr concentrations. Moreover, the study introduces inPDC (2 mg/kg)-instillation as a new experimental animal model suitable to study the acute brain and lung toxicities induced by intranasal exposure to Cr compounds.

Hexavalent chromium (CrVI) is a heavy metal widely used in more than 50 industries. Nephrotoxicity is a major adverse effect of chromium poisoning. The present study investigated the potential renoprotective effect of lactoferrin (Lf) against potassium dichromate (PDC)-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) in rats. Beside, because previous studies suggest that interlukin-18 (IL-18) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) play important roles in promoting kidney damage, the present work aimed to evaluate the involvement of these two cytokines in PDC model of AKI and in the potential renoprotective effect of lactoferrin. Adult male albino Wistar rats were pretreated with Lf (200mg/kg/day, p.o.) or (300mg/kg/day, p.o.); the doses that are usually used in the experiment studies, for 14 days followed by a single dose of PDC (15mg/kg, s.c.). PDC caused significant increase in serum urea, creatinine, and total protein levels. This was accompanied with decreased renal glutathione content, and increased renal malondialdehyde, IL-18, IL-4, nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB), IGF-1, and the phosphorylated form of forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1) levels. Moreover, normal expression IFN-γ mRNA and enhanced expression of TNF-α mRNA was demonstrated in renal tissues. Histopathological investigations provoked deleterious changes in the renal tissues. Tubular epithelial hyperplasia and apoptosis were demonstrated immunohistochemically by positive proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), Bax, and Caspase-3 expression, respectively. Pretreatment of rats with Lf in both doses significantly corrected all previously mentioned PDC-induced changes with no significant difference between both doses. In conclusion, the findings of the present study demonstrated the involvement of oxidative stress, inflammatory reactions, tubular hyperplasia and apoptosis in PDC-induced AKI. It suggested a role of IL-18 through stimulation of IL-4-induced inflammatory pathway, and IGF-1 through triggering FoxO1-induced cell proliferation. Moreover, the study revealed that Lf protected the kidney against Cr-induced AKI in rats and significantly showed antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-proliferative properties with down-regulation of IL-18 and IGF-1.

Objective: This study evaluated hepatoprotective effect of aescin (AES) and diosmin (DIO), individually or in low-dose combination in chemically induced liver injury in rats. Rats were divided into 6 groups; Group 1, control, Group 2, injected with a single dose of a mixture of corn oil and carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) to induce hepatic toxicity. Before CCl₄ injection, Groups 3–6 were treated daily for 14 days with silymarin (SIL) (200 mg/kg), aescin (AES; 3.6 & 1.75 mg/kg), Diosmin (DIO; 100 & 50 mg/kg). Serum samples were analyzed for different liver function, oxidative stress and antioxidant markers. Moreover, inflammation and tissue damage were confirmed by histological staining of liver tissue sections. Results: Results indicated that CCl₄ elevated serum levels of all assessed liver function markers and decreased levels of key antioxidants. Administration of AES and/or DIO significantly reversed all those CCl₄-induced effects. Histopathological study showed disruption of the hepatic architecture, necrosis and inflammatory cells and depositions of glycogen and protein in the tissues of CCl₄-treated group. Pretreatment with DIO and/or AES significantly improved histopathological structure of liver tissue. In conclusion, low-dose combination of AES and DIO exhibited significant and preferential hepatoprotective activity compared to individual treatment with AES or DIO.

Diabetes is the most common metabolic disorder in both developing and non-developing countries, and a well-recognized global health problem. The WHO anticipates an increase in cases from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million by 2030. In the present study, we focus on the preparation of pyrimidine derivatives as potential antidiabetic and antimicrobial agents. Thein vivoeffect on total serum glucose concentration, cholesterol and antioxidant activity was assessed in adult male albino Wister rats and compared to the reference drug glimperide. Promising results were observed for compound 5. The histopathological study confirms that compound 5 results in significant activity with liver maintenance. The antimicrobial activities were evaluated against several bacterial strains such as Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 25566, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli NRRN 3008, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 10145, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538and fungi such as Rhizopus oligosporus, Mucor miehei and Asperillus niger. Compounds 4 and 5 showed a good inhibition of the bacterial zone compared to the reference drug cephradine. Finally, we suggest protein targets for these drugs based on computational analysis, and infer their activities from their predicted modes of binding using molecular modeling. The molecular modeling for compounds 4 and 5 resulted in improved docking scores and hydrogen bonding. The docking studies are in good agreement with the in vitro and in vivo studies.