Role of cinnamon oil against acetaminophen overdose induced neurological aberrations through brain stress and cytokine upregulation in rat brain

Abstract

Acetaminophen (APAP) is a well-known antipyretic and analgesic medicine. It is safe at therapeutic suggested level while overdose initiates oxidative stress and inflammation mediated neurochemical alteration in the brain. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of cinnamon oil (CO), which possesses potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities against an overdose of APAP that induced oxidative stress and inflammation in male albino rats. APAP treated rats showed significant elevation of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and decreased level of GSH in brain tissue, which is recognized as a biomarker of oxidative stress. Antioxidant enzymes GPx, GR, SOD, and CAT activity was depleted in APAP group along with neurotoxicity biomarkers such as Na⁺-K⁺-ATPase and increased activity of acetylcholinesterase (AchE), monoamine oxidase (MAO), and upregulated pro-inflammatory cytokine was observed. CO significantly protected the diminished activity of the antioxidant enzyme and suppressed the upregulated cytokines in brain tissue. CO also attenuated the activity of neurotoxicity biomarker enzyme, decreased TBARS content, and an increased level of GSH. The present findings perceptibly confirmed that the nutraceutical property of CO ameliorates APAP induced oxidative stress and inflammation. Therefore, our findings suggested that CO could be an alternative nutraceutical substitute in APAP overdose poisoning.

Keywords: Acetaminophen; antioxidant; cinnamon oil; cytokine; inflammation; oxidative stress.