Full Length Research Paper

Do diosgenin ameliorate urinary bladder toxic effect of cyclophosphamide and buthionine sulfoximine in experimental animal models?

Bechr Hamrita¹*^#, Kamel Rouissi^1#, Soumaya Kouidhi ^1#, Bassem Jaouadi² and Amel Benammar Elgaaied¹

¹Laboratory of Genetics, Immunology and Human Pathology, Faculty of Science of Tunis, University of El Manar I, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia.

²Laboratory of Animal Ecophysiology, Faculty of Science of Sfax, Tunisia.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: bechrhamrita@yahoo.fr. Tel: 00 216.99.554.508.

Abbreviations: CP, Cylophosphamide; BSO, L-buthionine-SR-sulfoximine; LPO, lipid peroxidation; GR, glutathione reductase; GST, glutathione S-transferase; GP, glutathione peroxidase; CAT, catalase; GSH, reduced glutathione.

#These author contributed equally to this work.

Accepted 12 October, 2011

   Abstract

Urotoxicity is a troublesome complication associated with cylophosphamide (CP) and L-buthionine-SR-sulfoximine (BSO) treatment in chemotherapy. With this concern in mind, this present study investigated the potential effects of diosgenin for the first time on urotoxicity induced by acute CP and BSO doses using a Swiss albino mouse model. Toxicity modulation was evaluated through measuring lipid peroxidation (LPO) and anti-oxidants in urinary bladder. The findings reveal that the diosgenin exerted a protective effect not only on LPO but also on enzymatic anti-oxidants. When compared to the controls, the CP-treated animals underwent significant decrease in the glutathione S-transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase (GP) and catalase (CAT) activities. The level of reduced glutathione (GSH) was also decreased with an increase in LPO in the CP-treated animals. BSO treatment exerted an additive toxic effect in the CP-treated animals. Interestingly, pre-treatment with the diosgenin restored the activities of all enzymes back to normal levels and to exhibit an overall protective effect on the CP and BSO induced toxicities in urinary bladder. The restoration of GSH through the treatment with the diosgenin can play an important role in reversing CP-induced apoptosis and free radical mediated LPO.  

Key words: Diosgenin, cyclophosphamide, L-buthionine-SR-sulfoximine, urinary bladder anti-oxidants