Abstract

Background

Radiotherapy is the most common regimen for treating human cancers; however, ionizing radiation (IR) has hazardous effects on metabolically active organs such as the liver.

Aim

This study aimed to investigate the possible protective (prophylactic and therapeutic) action of taurine against liver damage induced by gamma irradiation at different time intervals as well as the mechanisms by which taurine could provide its potential amelioration actions.

Methods

In this study, 90 adult male rats (∼150 g) were randomly divided into five groups. Group 1 is the control group, group 2 received an oral daily dose (500 mg/kg) of taurine for two weeks, group 3 was exposed to a whole-body single dose of γ-irradiation (6 Gy), and groups 4 and 5 received taurine before or after γ-irradiation, respectively. Six rats from each group were sacrificed after 1, 2, and 3 weeks.

Results

Over the period of the 3 weeks studied, there were significant increases in MDA, NO, TNF-α, and cytochrome-c levels and ALT, caspases-9 and -3 activities and significant decreases in GSH, SOD, CAT, and GPx in the irradiated group when compared with the relevant control. The liver of irradiated rats showed dilatation in the central and portal veins, edema, and degenerated hepatocytes.

Conclusions

Taken together, IR caused maximum devastation in the liver 2 weeks after exposure as shown by elevation of the inflammatory and apoptotic markers and reducing the antioxidants. Taurine was able to alleviate the deleterious biochemical and histological effects whether given before or after IR. The magnitude of the observed protective effects was in both cases very similar.

摘要

背景：放射疗法是治疗人类癌症的最常见方案。但是，电离辐射（IR）对肝脏等代谢活跃器官具有有害影响。目的：本研究旨在研究牛磺酸在不同时间间隔对伽马射线辐照引起的肝损害的可能的保护（预防和治疗）作用，以及牛磺酸可提供其潜在的改善作用的机制。方法：在这项研究中，将90只成年雄性大鼠（〜150 g）随机分为五组。第一组是对照组，第二组每天口服口服牛磺酸（500 mg / kg），持续两周，第三组接受全身单剂量γ射线照射（6 Gy），第四组和第二组5个分别在γ射线照射之前或之后接受牛磺酸。在1、2和3周后处死每组六只大鼠。结果：在研究的3周内，MDA，NO，TNF-α和细胞色素c水平以及ALT，胱天蛋白酶-9和-3活性显着升高，而GSH，SOD，CAT和GSH显着降低。与相关对照相比，照射组中的GPx。受辐照的大鼠的肝脏在中央和门静脉中出现扩张，水肿和变性肝细胞。结论：总的来说，IR在暴露后2周引起肝脏最大破坏，如炎症和凋亡标记物的升高以及抗氧化剂的减少所表明。牛磺酸能够减轻IR之前或之后产生的有害生化和组织学影响。在两种情况下，观察到的保护作用的程度非常相似。