Aloin exerts concentration-dependent pro-oxidant and antioxidant effects when tested in vitro. Such duality of effects has not been investigated through in vivo studies on aloin. We evaluated the effects of aloin at doses ranging between 1 and 125 mg/kg against the arsenic trioxide (As2O3)-induced cardiotoxicity in mice. As2O3 (5 mg/kg/day) was intraperitoneally administrated for 10 days. Aloin was administered through oral gavage at 1, 5, 25, and 125 mg/kg/day. As2O3 induced rise in ST height and QT interval in ECG, increased oxidative stress, and depleted the antioxidative defense. As2O3 increased inflammatory cytokine concentrations in the heart. Aloin dose dependently inhibited the As2O3-induced cardiotoxicity. There was no evidence of increased oxidative stress in the low-dose aloin-treated mice receiving As2O3. Our results indicate that aloin possesses cardioprotective potentials and its pro-oxidant effect is not evident in vivo at tested doses.
Keywords: Aloin; As2O3; Myocardial damage; Oxidative stress; TNF-α.