Antioxidant and Cytoprotective Effect of Piper aduncum L. against Sodium Fluoride (NaF)-Induced Toxicity in Albino Mice

Toxic Potential of Cerrado Plants on Different Organisms

Cerrado has many compounds that have been used as biopesticides, herbicides, medicines, and others due to their highly toxic potential. Thus, this review aims to present information about the toxicity of Cerrado plants. For this purpose, a review was performed using PubMed, Science Direct, and Web Of Science databases. After applying exclusion criteria, 187 articles published in the last 20 years were selected and analyzed. Detailed information about the extract preparation, part of the plant used, dose/concentration tested, model system, and employed assay was provided for different toxic activities described in the literature, namely cytotoxic, genotoxic, mutagenic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, insecticidal, antiparasitic, and molluscicidal activities. In addition, the steps to execute research on plant toxicity and the more common methods employed were discussed. This review synthesized and organized the available research on the toxic effects of Cerrado plants, which could contribute to the future design of new environmentally safe products.

Virgin coconut oil complements with its polyphenol components mitigate sodium fluoride toxicity in vitro and in vivo

Virgin coconut oil (VCO), prepared from fresh coconut kernel without any chemical refining, is an emerging functional food. The pharmacological benefits of VCO are believed to be due to the natural combination of phenolics. Although cell culture studies have demonstrated the antioxidant activity of VCO under different oxidative stress conditions, a valid in vivo demonstration of the antioxidant activity of VCO is yet to come. Sodium fluoride (NaF), an environmental pollutant, is widely used to induce oxidative stress in cell culture models and rodents to test the antioxidant potential of several compounds. Herein, VCO and its polyphenolic (VCOP) and non-phenolic oil fraction (VCOF) were individually tested in fluoride-exposed normal intestinal cells (IEC-6) and mice to address their contribution to the documented antioxidant potential. It was found that pretreatment of VCOP (40 µg/mL) was effective in mitigating the fluoride-induced cell death when compared to VCO (200 µg/mL) and VCOF (160 µg/mL). Further, exposure to fluoride (10 mM), increased the intracellular ROS measured based on the dichlorofluorescein (DCF) fluorescence, and this, in turn, was significantly reduced when the cells were supplemented with VCOP. Oral administration of VCO (2 mL/kg bwt) reversed the drop in the hepatic catalase and SOD activities to near normal with a minimal level of lipid peroxidation in fluoride intoxicated mice. However, VCOP and VCOF were less effective in lowering the fluoride-induced increase in hepatic oxidative stress markers. It is reasoned that the oil components of VCO complement the natural antioxidant molecules resulting in an overall increase in their bioavailability.