The Possible Protective Role of Folic acid on the Myocardial and Gastrocnemius Muscles in cases of Rotenone-Induced Damage in Adult Male Albino Rat: Histological and Immunohistochemical Study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Human Anatomy and Embryology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

2 Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assuit 71515, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Rotenone is one of the environmental pollutants and has been applied as a pesticide extensively. For more than 150 years, rotenone has been used commercially in agriculture and fishery management.
Aim of the Work: To detect the possible preventive impacts of folic acid in preventing rotenone cytotoxicity in the heart and skeletal muscles.
Material and Methods: Four groups of forty adult male albino rats were randomly selected, and the rats in group I were used as a normal control group. Group II received folic acid orally in a dose of 20 mg/kg body weight for 35 days, group III subcutaneously injected once a day for 35 days at a dosage of 1.3 mg/kg body weight by Rotenone, group IV rats received both rotenone (as group III) and folic acid (as group II). For light microscopic study using hematoxylin and eosin and picrosirius red stain, ultrastructural study, and immunohistochemical investigation using iNOS and TNFα antibodies, heart and gastrocnemius muscle specimens were prepared.
Results: Rotenone treatment caused degeneration and splitting of the cardiac and muscle fibers with loss of striations, wavy arrangement of many muscle fibers, damaged mitochondria, shrunken nuclei of the cardiomyocytes, many collagen fibres between cardiac and muscle fibers, significant decrease in myofibers thickness as well as strong positive cytoplasmic iNOS and TNFα reactions in heart and gastrocnemius muscle. Folic acid co-administration preserved normal histological structure of the heart and gastrocnemius muscle.
Conclusion: Folic acid can improve degeneration and has a protective influence on cardiac and muscular architecture in rats treated with rotenone most likely via mechanisms dependent on iNOS and TNFα.

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