Protective Effect of Crataegus Hydroalcoholic Extract on Intestinal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in a Rat Model

Abstract

<strong>Objective- </strong>This study examined the effect of Crataegus hydroalcoholic extract (CHE) on intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) in rats.<br /> <strong>Design-</strong> Experimental study<br /> <strong>Animals-</strong> 25 adult male Wistar rats<br /> <strong>Procedures-</strong> Rats weighing 200±25 g were randomly divided into five individual groups as follows: sham group without intestinal I/R, control group with intestinal I/R, and treatment groups with intestinal I/R and 10 days oral administration of CHE at doses of 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg. Intestinal I/R was accomplished by occlusion of the cranial mesenteric artery for 30 min, followed by 60 min reperfusion. Then tissue sections of jejunum were prepared and stained with hematoxylin-eosin. Histopathological lesions including hyperemia, hemorrhage, necrohemorrhagic inflammation, and villi destruction were scored as mild, moderate and severe.<br /> <strong>Results-</strong> In histopathologic evaluation, sham and control group showed the minimum and maximum injury, respectively. The mean scores of necrohemorrhagic inflammation and villi destruction significantly decreased in 25 mg/kg CHE group compared to control. However, hyperemia and hemorrhage did not change in comparison to control (<em>p</em>>0.007). In the group of 50 mg/kg CHE, no pathologic lesions were observed and the results were similar to those in the sham group. The mean scores of hyperemia and necrohemorrhagic inflammation in the 100 mg/kg CHE group had no significant difference with the control group. However, the mean rank of hemorrhage and villi destruction was significantly lower than control and higher than the sham group (<em>p</em><0.007).<br /> <strong>Conclusion and clinical relevance-</strong> The findings of this study indicate that CHE at the dose of 50 mg/kg has the most protective effect against intestinal I/R injury in a rat model. Therefore, Crataegus can be a promising compound against intestinal I/R injuries.