Potential Role of L-Arginine and Vitamin E Against Bone Loss Induced by Nano-Zinc Oxide in Rats

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to illustrate the effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) administration on bone turnover and bone resorbing agents in rats and how L-arginine (L-arg) or vitamin E (vit E) co-administrations might affect them. Fasting rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 10): G1—normal healthy animals; G2—ZnO-NPs-exposed rats (600 mg/kg⁻1/day⁻¹); G3—ZnO-NPs-exposed rats co-administrated L-arg (200 mg/kg⁻1/day⁻¹); G4—ZnO-NPs-exposed rats co-administrated vit E (200 mg/kg⁻1/day⁻¹). The ingredients were orally administered daily. The body weight and food consumption of rats were recorded during the administration period and the experiment continued for three consecutive weeks. The results demonstrated that ZnO-NPs administration induced bone loss in rats as manifested by reduced activity of bone alkaline phosphatase (B-ALP) and increased level of C-terminal peptide type I collagen (CTx). The increase of inflammatory markers, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) by ZnO-NPs suggests that deleterious effects of ZnO-NPs on bone turnover were, in part, due to inflammation. Confirming to this suggestion, both L-arg and vit E reduced TNF-α and IL-6 levels and consequently decreased bone resorption as indicated by reduced serum CTx level. This study proved that ZnO-NPs can induce bone turnover, which may be reduced by L-arg or vit.E co-administration, partly by anti-inflammatory mechanism.

KEYWORDS:

• bone
• inflammatory markers
• L-arginine
• nanoparticles
• vitamin E

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

About the authors

Hala M. Abdelkarem, PhD, Professor of biochemical nutrition, National Research Center, Nutrition Department, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt. Research interests: searching various topics in biochemistry and human nutrition; designing, coordinating and evaluating scientific projects for continuous programs; and special interest in obese, diabetes, osteoporosis and nutritionally related health problems and their pathophysiology.

Laila H. Fadda, PhD, Professor of biochemistry, King Saud University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Department, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Research interests: drug interaction and the side effects of many drugs on biological and nutritional parameters.

Eman M. El-Sayed, PhD, Professor of biochemical nutrition, National Research Center, Nutrition Department, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt. Research interests: food and drug interaction, the role of remedies in protection against the side effects of many drugs and their effect on biological and nutritional parameters.

Omyma K. Radwan, PhD, Researcher of physiology, National Organization for Drug Control and Research, (NODCAR), Physiology Department, Giza, Egypt. Research interests: special interest in aspects of numerous biochemical analyses in biological fluids.