Total flavonoids of Rhizoma Drynariae protect hepatocytes against aflatoxin B1-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in broiler chickens

Luxi Lin; Pengfei Fu; Nuoman Chen; Ningyu Gao; Qinqin Cao; Ke Yue; Tingting Xu; Chaodong Zhang; Cai Zhang; Fang Liu; Xuebing Wang; Shucheng Huang

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.113148

Total flavonoids of Rhizoma Drynariae protect hepatocytes against aflatoxin B1-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in broiler chickens

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2022 Jan 15:230:113148. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.113148. Epub 2022 Jan 4.

Authors

Luxi Lin¹, Pengfei Fu¹, Nuoman Chen¹, Ningyu Gao¹, Qinqin Cao¹, Ke Yue¹, Tingting Xu¹, Chaodong Zhang¹, Cai Zhang², Fang Liu¹, Xuebing Wang¹, Shucheng Huang³

Affiliations

¹ College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, Henan, PR China.
² Laboratory of Environment and Livestock Products, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471023, Henan, PR China.
³ College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, Henan, PR China. Electronic address: huang.sc@henau.edu.cn.

PMID: 34995912
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.113148

Abstract

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a common mycotoxin in food and in the environment that lead to multi-organ injury in humans and animals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the detoxification properties of dietary total flavonoids of Rhizoma drynariae (TFRD), a Chinese herbal, on aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-induced hepatic oxidative damage and apoptosis of liver of broiler chickens. A total of 160 healthy specific pathogen free (SPF) 21-day-old broilers were randomly allocated to 4 groups, including the CON group (basal diet), TFRD group (basal diet with 125 mg/kg TFRD), AFB1 group (100 μg/kg body weight), and AFB1 (100 μg/kg body weight) + TFRD (basal diet with 125 mg/kg TFRD) group. The exposure of AFB1 continued for seven days. The results showed that TFRD treatment alleviated the abnormal changes of growth performance and liver morphology, reduced serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels. Moreover, TFRD promoted the antioxidant capacity of serum, increased the activities of total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and glutathione (GSH) (p < 0.05), while decreased MDA contents (p > 0.05). Meanwhile, supplementation of TFRD significantly increased the expression of antioxidant-related genes (SOD, CAT, GST, and GPX1) in liver (p < 0.05). Furthermore, we found that AFB1 was involved in the regulation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, leading to hepatocyte apoptosis. At the same time, TFRD treatment inhibited AFB1-induced apoptosis and significantly changed mRNA expression of apoptosis-related genes, including PI3K, AKT, Bax, and Bcl-2 (p < 0.05). The results indicated that TFRD could alleviate AFB1-induced liver injury in broiler chickens.

Keywords: Aflatoxin B1; Apoptosis; Liver; Oxidative stress; Total flavonoids of Rhizoma drynariae.