Effects of oligoelements Se, Zn, and Mn plus Lachesis muta venom in experimental scleroderma

Scleroderma, sclerosis of the skin, is a severe autoimmune disease refractant to all kind of treatments. To study the in vivo effects of a combination of three oligoelements selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), and manganese (Mn) plus Lachesis muta venom (O-LM) on the bleomycin (BLM)-induced scleroderma mouse experimental model. C3H mice were randomly divided into four groups: control (phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)), O-LM, BLM, and BLM + O-LM. All administrations were performed subcutaneously into the back of mice. BLM was injected 5 days per week for three consecutive weeks and O-LM was administered simultaneously with BLM from the beginning of the experiments and lasted for 3 weeks after the final BLM or PBS injection (for O-LM and BLM + O-LM groups), when animals were sacrificed and histopathological, immunohistochemical, thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) evaluation, and autoantibodies detection were determined. O-LM significantly reduced BLM-induced enhanced dermal thickness (605 ± 47 vs. 956 ± 59 μm, P < 0.01), collagen deposition, and mast cells infiltration (43.1 ± 1.0 vs. 102 ± 14.1 mast cells, P < 0.05). O-LM administration significantly blocked BLM-induced oxidative damage and the enhanced immunoreactive fibroblasts for α-smooth muscle actin while reduced BLM-induced autoantibodies that strongly react mainly with skin and spleen. O-LM significantly reduced BLM-induced scleroderma through the modulation of antioxidant and immunological pathways.

Radioprotection of sensitive rat tissues by oligoelements Se, Zn, Mn plus Lachesis muta venom

In this study we first evaluated the general radioprotective efficacy of Se, Zn and Mn (4 µg/ml each) plus Lachesis muta venom (4 ng/ml) combination (O-LM) by determining survival on rats irradiated with lethal doses of gamma-rays. The aim of the second part of the study was to investigate the O-LM ability to prevent ionizing radiation-induced damage on small intestine, bone marrow and submandibular glands. Hence, histological characteristics and functional studies, together with proliferation and apoptotic marker levels on whole body irradiated rats with a 5 Gy dose were evaluated. Results show that all animals of the untreated group died after whole body irradiation with 8 and 10 Gy while 60 day-survival was more than 80% and 40% in O-LM-treated animals, respectively. Histopathological examinations revealed a high degree of small intestine and submandibular gland radioprotection 3 days post-irradiation. O-LM inhibited histological damage on small intestine, restoring the radiation-induced reduction in villous height and crypt number. O-LM prevented radiation-induced loss of salivary gland function and morphological alterations. These effects were associated to a complete inhibition of radiation-induced apoptosis. Furthermore, studies performed 30 days post-irradiation revealed that O-LM significantly improved bone marrow repopulation, increasing all medullar progenies to the extent of the non-irradiated animals, and completely prevented permanent submandibular gland alterations. Based on the present results and taking into account that O-LM is being safely administered in phase I clinical trial as an immunomodulator, we conclude that O-LM is a non-toxic promising approach to achieve radioprotection for patients undergoing radiotherapy.

Radioprotective potential of a novel therapeutic formulation of oligoelements Se, Zn, Mn plus Lachesis muta venom

In this study we evaluated in vivo the tolerance induced by the combination of Se, Zn and Mn (4 microg/ml each) plus Lachesis muta venom (4 ng/ml) (O-LM) to high doses of ionizing radiation. The protective effect of O-LM was investigated on the small-intestine and bone marrow of mice irradiated with a single whole-body dose of 10 Gy employing a (137)Cs source. Mice were sacrificed 3 days after irradiation. Mice receiving a subcutaneous daily O-LM injection starting 30 days before irradiation, showed a higher number of crypts, enhanced villous conservation and lack of edema or vascular damage in comparison to the untreated and irradiated group. In addition, O-LM treatment decreased vascular damage and the grade of aplasia preserving medullar progenies induced by ionizing radiation on mouse bone marrow. The protective effect of O-LM against radiation injury to the small intestine was associated with an increase in proliferation and a reduction of apoptosis in intestinal crypts and furthermore, to an enhanced intestinal immunoreactivity of MnSOD, and CuZnSOD, and also catalase. Based on the present results and taking into account that O-LM is being safely administered in phase I clinical trial as an immunomodulator, we suggest that O-LM could be an attractive candidate as a safe radioprotective agent for patients undergoing radiotherapy.