Open Access

ARTICLE

β-carotene protects the gastric mucosa against ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats

Seyyed Ali Mard¹, Niloofar Neisi², Marjan Darbor¹, Maryam Hassanpour¹, Manoochehr Makvandi², Ghasem Solgi³

1 Physiology Research Center (PRC), Research Institute for Infectious Diseases of the Digestive System and Dept. of Physiology, School of Medicine,Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
2 Research Institute for Infectious Diseases of the Digestive System, Dept. of Virology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of MedicalSciences, Ahvaz, Iran
3 Dept. of Immunology, School of Medicine, UMSHA, Hamadan, Iran

* Corresponding Authors: S. Ali Mard, ;

European Cytokine Network 2012, 23(4), 173-178. https://doi.org/10.1684/ecn.2012.0317

Accepted 04 September 2012;

Abstract

Background/aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of β-carotene on gastric mucosal lesions caused by ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rat. Forty male rats were randomly divided into sham, control (I/R injury) and three β-carotene-pretreated groups. To induce the I/R lesions, the celiac artery was clamped for 30 min. The clamp was then removed to allow reperfusion for three hours. Pretreated-rats received β-carotene (15, 30 or 60 mg/kg daily, i.p.) or vehicle for five days before the induction of the I/R injury. Samples of gastric mucosa were collected to measure the mRNA expression of IL-1β, TNF-α and TGF-β by quantitative, realtime PCR. Pretreatment with β-carotene decreased the total area of gastric ulcer and mRNA expression, as well as plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-1β and TNF-α, in a dose-dependent manner. The gene expression and plasma levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine, TGF-β, were significantly increased in β-carotene-pretreated groups compared with the control. Our findings showed that the protective effect of β-carotene may be mediated partly by reducing mRNA expression and plasma levels of IL-1β and TNF-α, and concurrently, by increasing gene expression and plasma levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β. These findings suggest that β-carotene has a protective role in gastric mucosa. Further clinical and in vivo studies need to be undertaken to support this hypothesis.

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Keywords

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