In vivo antioxidative effect of isoquercitrin on cadmium-induced oxidative damage to mouse liver and kidney

Cadmium (Cd) is an environmental pollutant and has been found to pose a potential threat to human health. Isoquercitrin (IQ) is one of the most important flavonoids and has been demonstrated to exhibit potent antioxidant effects on plants and yeast cells. However, only few studies have investigated the antioxidative activities of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the nitrite scavenging activities of IQ against Cd-induced oxidation in mouse. The present work was to investigate the ROS and nitrite-scavenging activities of IQ in vitro as well as its preventive effects against lipid peroxidation and protein oxidative damage in liver and kidney of mouse induced by Cd²⁺ using spectrophotometry. Our results showed that IQ possesses scavenging abilities for superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical and nitrite. Such scavenging capacities increase with the concentration of IQ. Moreover, cadmium chloride (CdCl ₂) (2.5 mg/kg body weight, i.p. CdCl₂) significantly inhibited the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase and raised the levels of malondialdehyde, nitric oxide, protein carbonyl, and the coefficients of DNA-protein crosslinks in livers and/or kidneys of mice. IQ attenuated the Cd²⁺-induced biochemical alterations in the livers and/or kidneys of mice, indicating that the formation of ROS and nitrite is possibly reduced. Our work demonstrates that IQ possesses ROS and nitrite-scavenging capacities and plays a significant role in combating Cd²⁺-induced toxicity in animals.