Prevention of Drug-Induced Programmed andUnprogrammed Cell Death by Citrus Flavonoids

摘要

Cell life and cell death in vivo are delicately balanced andlinked processes dependent upon several "death" or "survival"signals from inside and outside the cell. These signals areregulated by several vital intracellular events associated withDNA, RNA, caspases, proteins, and ions. Drugs and otherchemicals are known to threaten the stability of such keyintracellular molecules by causing ion deregulation, oxidativestress, DNA fragmentation and activation of caspases. Citrusflavonoids, such as hesperidin (HES) and rutin (RUT), areknown to specifically interfere with such deleterious pathways,minimize macromolecular perturbations, and exhibit theirprolific antitoxic properties. This study was designed toinvestigate whether HES and RUT pre-exposures (1.25g/kgorally for 14 days) have the ability to counteract hepatotoxicityand nephrotoxicity induced by toxic doses of acetaminophen(APAP, 500 mg/kg, ip) and diclofenac (DCLF, 200 mg/kg, po)respectively in vivo.