ABSTRACT

Antioxidants have been shown to play protective role in the treatment of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis. The goal of the study was to determine the effect of Cissampelos owariensis (CO) leaves, an alkaloid rich antioxidant on BLM-induced lung fibrosis in rat models. The CO (UIH22559) leaves were extracted using methanol and fractionated using vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) to obtain the ethyl-acetate fraction (EAF) and methanol fraction (MEF). The active component of CME was determined using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The inhibitory role of CME, EAF and MEF were assessed on FeSO4- induced lipid peroxidation (LPO) in in-vitro assay.

In the in-vivo study, twenty (20) male Wistar rats (100-150g) were administered bleomycin (0.7U/100mg) intraperitoneally. They were divided into four (4) groups of five (5) animals each and given distilled water (negative control), 10mg/kg quercetin, 200 and 400mg/kg CME orally and daily for 28days. Additional five (5) rats were given distilled water (positive control). Activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione, levels of lipid peroxidation and plasma activities of total protein and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were determined spectrophotometrically. Histological examination on lung tissues was done microscopically. In the in-vitro studies, CME inhibited FeSO4-induced LPO levels by 34%, 65%, 52%, and 89%; EAF by 45%, 55%, 50%, and 52%; MEF by 37%, 60%, 61%, and 64%, in 50, 200, 300 and 400µg/ml respectively. The GC-MS showed that hexanoic acid, tetradecanoic acid, 9, 12, 15- Octadecatrienoic acid methyl ester, Linoleic acid ethyl ester, phytol, and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phythalate among others were the active components present in the CME of CO. In the in-vivo studies, CME inhibited LPO in BLM-induced lung fibrosis by up to 83.200±1.1314 and 94.200±4.2427 in 200 and 400mg/kg groups when compared with the control. Levels of SOD and GSH were statistically increased by treatment with 400mg/kg CME while plasma total serum protein and ALP were decreased statistically when treated with 200, 400mg/kg CME and 10mg/kg quercetin relative to control. Data were analyzed using one way ANOVA α0.05. Histological examinations showed hemorrhagic lesions and presence of fibrosis which reduced to mild sloughing of the epithelium by treatment groups.

The results suggest that crude methanol extract of Cissampelos owariensis leaves may serve promising role in the treatment of BLM-induced lung fibrosis.