Transcriptional activity of the Casp7, Check1 and Ripk1 genes in rat kidneys during correction of toxic acrylamide effects with oxymethyluracil compounds

Introduction. Acrylamide is widely used in industry during production of various polymers. It is a colorless and odorless chemical and is usually formed in foods high in carbohydrates and low in protein that undergo high-temperature treatments such as frying, baking and digestion. The most common way for acrylamide to enter the human body is through food, but it can also enter the circulatory system by contacting the skin. Acrylamide poses a serious danger to human health due to its carcinogenicity and high toxicity.

The study aims to explore the expression of the Casp7, Chek1 and Ripk1 genes in the kidneys of laboratory animals when correcting the toxic effect of acrylamide with oxymethyluracil (OMU) compounds.

Materials and methods. For the experiment, the researchers used 30 female rats weighing 180–200 g. The experimental animals were divided into five groups: the healthy group (K–), the group receiving only acrylamide (K+), the OMU + ascorbic acid group (MG-1), the OMU + sodium succinate group (MG-2) and the OMU + acetylcysteine group (MG-10). The authors used acrylamide as a toxicant. The experiment lasted 28 days. At the end of this process, the scientists euthanized the animals and extracted the tissues of their kidneys. They examined the extracted kidney tissues using a molecular genetic method. RNA was isolated from the samples, cDNA was synthesized and real-time PCR analysis was performed. The specialists checked the statistical significance using IBM SPSS Statistics software.

Results. The expression multiplicity of the Casp7 gene in the positive control group was the lowest compared to all four other groups and the differences reached the level of statistical significance (k=10.96; p=0.027). The minimum value of Chek1 gene expression was also observed in the group receiving only acrylamide and was –3.92 [–5.44; –2.17] (k=11.89; p=0.018). The lowest levels of Ripk1 gene expression were observed in the negative control group (0.09 [–1.58; 1.27]) (k=16.19; p=0.003), pairwise comparisons showed statistical significance when comparing both the positive control and negative control groups with all three correction groups.

Limitations. The limitations of the study are the analysis of pathological changes in the body of laboratory animals in the early stages of acute exposure to the studied toxicant. For further judgment on the mechanisms of the toxic effect of the studied substances and the possibility of its preventive correction, it is necessary to conduct studies on longer exposure periods.

Conclusion. Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that, probably, the complex compounds of oxymethyluracil have high antioxidant activity.

Ethics. The study was conducted in compliance with ethical standards (meeting of the bioethical Commission of the Ufa Scientific Research Institute of Occupational Medicine and Human Ecology dated 08/17/2023 No. 1-06).

Contribution:
Yakupova T.G. — data collection and processing, writing the text;
Mukhammadieva G.F. — writing the text;
Repina E.F. — the concept and design of the study;
Khusnutdinova N.Yu. — data collection and processing;
Karimov D.O. — the concept and design of the study, the editing;
Smolyankin D.A. — data collection and processing;
Garipova Z.R. — data collection and processing.

Funding. The study had no funding.

Conflict of interests. The authors declare no conflict of interests.

Received: 01.04.2024 / Accepted: 26.04.2024 / Published: 20.06.2024

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