Royal jelly arranges apoptotic and oxidative stress pathways and reduces damage to liver tissues of rats by down-regulation of Bcl-2, GSK3 and NF-κB and up-regulation of caspase and Nrf-2 protein signalling pathways

Abstract

Introduction

Royal jelly (RJ) from the honey bee, Apis mellifera, is a traditional product that is widely used as a food supplement to support the medical treatment of various diseases.

Material and methods

Our study continued for 8 weeks. 42 Wistar albino (8 weeks old) male rats were used in the study. The study included 6 groups; Group 1: Control group (fed with standard diet), Group 2: RJ (100 mg/kg, bw), Group 3: F-50 (50 mg/kg, bw), group 4: F-100 (100 mg/kg, bw) group 5: F-50 (50 mg/kg, bw) + RJ (100 mg/kg, bw) Group 6: F-100 (100 mg/kg, bw) + RJ (100 mg/kg, bw). Malondialdehyde (MDA), catalase (CAT) and glutathione (GSH) activities in liver tissue were determined by spectrophotometer. Liver tissue samples were examined histopathologically and various protein levels were determined by Western blotting technique.

Results

RJ caused a significant decrease in MDA level, Bcl-2, GSK3 and NF-κB protein expression levels, whereas induced a significant increase in GSH level, CAT activities and Bax, BDNF, caspase-6, caspase-3, Nrf-2 protein expression levels.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest RJ to be used as a hepatoprotective agent in the clinic to modulate the toxic effects of fluoride and other chemicals in the future.

Keywords:

• Fluoride
• liver damage
• NF-κB
• Nrf-2
• oxidative stress
• royal jelly

Acknowledgments

Some of the results of this article were presented at the 9^th International Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Congress (MOLBIOTECH) (6–10 December 2020 Kars, Turkey) and International European Conference on Interdisciplinary Scientific Researches-III (15–16 January 2021 Comrat, Moldova).

Authors’ contributions

AA: wrote the artıcle, review-editing, investigation, methodology, formal analysis, OG: wrote the article, laboratory analysis, reading article, formal analysis SB: laboratory analysis, reading article, formal analysis, MIC: laboratory analysis, reading article, formal analysis, GP: laboratory analysis, reading article, IHO: histopathological analysis, formal analysis, RG: review-editing, SBP: laboratory analysis, AEP: laboratory analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)

Ethical approval

Before starting the study, the approval of Fırat University Animal Experiments Local Ethics Committee (20.08.2020 meeting date, 2020/11 meeting number) was obtained and this research was conducted in conformity with the Ethics Committee Directive.

Informed consent

All authors approved publication of this article in Biomarkers.

Data availability statement

All data of this study are included in this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Firat University Research Projects Unit (FUBAP) [Project No: FF.19.16].