Astragalin attenuates oxidative stress and acute inflammatory responses in carrageenan-induced paw edema in mice

Astragalin is a flavonoid existed in several edible and medicinal plants and was recorded to have multiple biological and pharmacological significances. This work aimed to assess the possible protective effect of astragalin administration against oxidative tension, acute inflammation and histopathological deformations in a mouse paw edema model induced following intra sub-plantar injection of carrageenan. Thirty-six male Swiss mice were divided into four groups: control, carrageenan, astragalin (75 mg/kg) + carrageenan, and indomethacin (10 mg/kg) + carrageenan. Astragalin administration for five consecutive days to carrageenan injected mice showed a significant reduction in the development of paw in a time dependent effect, inhibited lipoperoxidation by-product, malondialdehyde and increased superoxide dismutase and catalase activities. Astragalin was found also to suppress the inflammatory signaling in the inflamed tissue as exhibited by the decreased myeloperoxidase activity along with the decreased protein and transcriptional level of pro-inflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-6. Moreover, inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 expressions and their products (nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2) were downregulated. Additionally, astragalin decreased monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and nuclear factor kappa B expression in the inflamed paw tissue. The recorded findings provide evidences for the potential application of astragalin as a plant-derived remedy for the treatment of acute inflammation due to its promising antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities along with its ameliorative impact against the histopathological changes in the paw tissue.

Keywords: Acute inflammation; Astragalin; Mice; Oxidative stress; Paw edema.