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Carvacrol Reduces Mercuric Chloride-Induced Testicular Toxicity by Regulating Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, Apoptosis, Autophagy, and Histopathological Changes

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Abstract

Mercuric chloride (HgCl2) is a heavy metal that is toxic to the human body. Carvacrol (CAR) is a flavonoid found naturally in plants and has many biological and pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer activities. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of CAR in HgCl2-induced testicular tissue damage. HgCl2 was administered intraperitoneally at a dose of 1.23 mg/kg body weight alone or in combination with orally administered CAR (25 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg body weight) for 7 days. Biochemical and histological methods were used to investigate oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, and autophagy pathways in testicular tissue. CAR treatment increased HgCl2-induced decreased antioxidant enzyme (SOD, CAT, and GPx) activities and GSH levels. In addition, CAR reduced MDA levels, a marker of lipid peroxidation. CAR decreased the levels of inflammatory mediators NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-1β, COX-2, iNOS, MAPK14, MAPK15, and JNK. The increases in apoptotic Bax and Caspase-3 with HgCl2 exposure decreased with CAR, while the decreased antiapoptotic Bcl-2 level increased. CAR reduced HgCl2-induced autophagy damage by increasing Beclin-1, LC3A, and LC3B levels. Overall, the data from this study suggested that testicular tissue damage associated with HgCl2 toxicity can be mitigated by CAR administration.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. Dr. Mehmet Tuğrul Yılmaz, İbrahim Yıldız, and KONUDAM team for their support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey

    Hasan Şimşek & Mehmet Öz

  2. Department of Veterinary Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey

    Cihan Gür & Sefa Küçükler

  3. Department of Animal Science, Horasan Vocational College, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey

    Mustafa İleritürk

  4. Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey

    Nurhan Akaras

  5. Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey

    Fatih Mehmet Kandemir

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  1. Hasan Şimşek
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Contributions

The authors’ contribution as follows was accepted by all authors: Hasan Şimşek: research, methodology, investigation. Cihan Gür, Mustafa İleritürk, Sefa Küçükler, and Mehmet Öz: methodology, investigation, data curation, formal analysis. Nurhan Akaras: methodology, investigation, histopathological examination. Fatih Mehmet Kandemir: investigation, formal analysis, supervision. Hasan Şimşek wrote the first draft of the article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hasan Şimşek.

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Ethics committee approval was received for this study from the ethics committee of Necmettin Erbakan University KONUDAM Experimental Medicine Research and Study Center’s (No: 2022/048, Date: 25 Aug 2022).

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Şimşek, H., Gür, C., Küçükler, S. et al. Carvacrol Reduces Mercuric Chloride-Induced Testicular Toxicity by Regulating Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, Apoptosis, Autophagy, and Histopathological Changes. Biol Trace Elem Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-023-04022-2

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