Cyclophosphamide (CPA) is used in the management of autoimmune conditions and malignant illnesses. However, its therapeutic use is limited because of its severe side effects, especially hepatotoxicity attributed to oxidative stress. Nasturtium officinale R. Br (watercress or WC) has pharmacological properties, such as anti-inflammation, and antioxidant activities. Therefore, the present study was design to assess effects of WC or its active ingredient, quercetin (QE), against CPA-induced hepatotoxicity. For this study, 49 male Wistar rats (200–250 g) were randomly selected and categorized into seven equal groups. The animals were pre- and post-treated with both hydroalcoholic extract of WC (500 mg/kg) and quercetin (75 mg/kg) for 10 consecutive days, and intraperitoneal administration of CPA (200 mg/kg) was performed on only day 10, one hour before the last dose of WC or quercetin. On day 11, all the animals were sacrificed, and their blood and liver were gathered for evaluation of the liver enzyme, hepatic oxidative stress markers, antioxidant enzymes activity, and hematoxylin and eosin staining. CPA significantly increased malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonyl (PCO) and nitric oxide (NO) levels and liver biomarkers. Otherwise, hepatic catalase (CAT), reduced glutathione (GSH), total thiol content (tSH), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were considerably lower than the control group. Results showed that WC has the ability to reduce the changes (MDA, PCO, FRAP, CAT, ALT and AST) and QE (MDA, PCO, AST) induced by CPA (p < 0.05). Histopathological finding confirmed the indicated results. These findings propose that WC and QE have protective effect against the CPA-induced hepatotoxicity by decreasing oxidative stress.

Graphic abstract

中文翻译：

---

金莲花和槲皮素对环磷酰胺诱导的大鼠肝毒性的保护作用。

环磷酰胺（CPA）用于治疗自身免疫性疾病和恶性疾病。然而，由于其严重的副作用，特别是归因于氧化应激的肝毒性，其治疗用途受到限制。金莲花（R. Br（豆瓣菜或WC）具有药理性质，例如抗炎和抗氧化活性。因此，本研究旨在评估WC或其活性成分槲皮素（QE）对CPA诱导的肝毒性的作用。在这项研究中，随机选择了49只雄性Wistar大鼠（200–250克）并将其分为七个相等的组。用WC的水醇提取物对动物进行预处理和后处理（500 mg / kg）和槲皮素（75 mg / kg）连续10天，仅在最后一次服用WC前一小时的第10天进行腹膜内CPA（200 mg / kg）施用或槲皮素。在第11天，处死所有动物，并收集其血液和肝脏以评估肝酶，肝氧化应激标志物，抗氧化酶活性以及苏木精和曙红染色。CPA显着提高了丙二醛（MDA），蛋白质羰基（PCO）和一氧化氮（NO）的水平以及肝脏生物标志物。否则，肝过氧化氢酶（CAT），还原型谷胱甘肽（GSH），总硫醇含量（tSH）和三价铁还原抗氧化能力（FRAP）均明显低于对照组。结果表明，WC具有减少由CPA引起的变化（MDA，PCO，FRAP，CAT，ALT和AST）和QE（MDA，PCO，AST）的能力（p <0.05）。组织病理学发现证实了所指示的结果。这些发现表明，WC QE和QE通过降低氧化应激对CPA诱导的肝毒性具有保护作用。

图形摘要