Preventive effects of Naringenin (Citrus flavonone) on intestinal ischemia–reperfusion injury in the rat

The intestinal mucosa is known to be adversely affected by ischemia-reperfusion (I/R). It has been demonstrated that Naringenin has protective effects against ischemia-reperfusion injury in various organs. The aim of this study is to determine whether Naringenin has any protective role in I/R injury of the intestine in rats. For this purpose, forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups as control (group 1), sham IR (group 2), intestinal IR group (group 3) and Naringenin plus intestinal IR (group 4). Intestinal IR was produced by 30 minutes of intestinal ischemia followed by a 60 minutes of reperfusion. Rats in group 4 received Naringenin (20 mg/kg) intraperitoneally, 120 minutes before ischemia. After the experiments, the jejunum was removed and the tissues were processed for histopathological examination. Serum total antioxidant activity (TAA), and levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GR) were measured in jejunal tissue. Histopathologically, jejunal tissues of the intestinal IR group showed severe inflammatory cell infiltration, villus shortening and blunting and hemorrhage in lamina propria, as well as epithelial cell necrosis. Administration of Naringenin alleviated the jejunal damage in group 4. Levels of TAA, SOD, CAT, GPx and GR decreased in the intestinal IR group, but increased significantly (p<0.05) in the IR+Naringenin group. Naringenin significantly (p<0.05) decreased MDA levels which was increased by IR. Our results showed that Naringenin treatment protected the rat's intestinal tissue against intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury.