Chitosan nanoparticles plus quercetin suppress the oxidative stress, modulate DNA fragmentation and gene expression in the kidney of rats fed ochratoxin A-contaminated diet

•Ochratoxin-A (OTA) is a mycotoxin produced by Penicillium and Asperigillus•OTA is nephrotoxic, apoptotic, genotoxic, and immunosuppressive agent.•Both quercetin (Q) and chitosan (COS) are poor water soluble.•COS nanoparticles (COS-NPs) was prepared and used with Q to counteract OTA toxicity.•COS-NPs plus Q protected the kidney form the oxidative stress and genotoxicity of OTA.

This study aimed to evaluate the protective role of chitosan nanoparticles (COS-NPs) singly or plus quercetin (Q) against OTA-induced oxidative stress and renal genotoxicity. Twelve groups of male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated orally for 3 weeks included the control group, animals fed OTA-contaminated diet (3 mg/kg diet); COS-NPs-treated groups at low (140 mg/kg b.w.) or high (280 mg/kg b.w.) dose, Q-treated group (50 mg/kg b.w.), Q plus low or high dose of COS-NPs-treated groups and OTA plus Q and/or COS-NPs at the two tested doses-treated groups. The results indicated that COS-NPs were roughly rod in shape with average particle size of 200 nm and zeta potential 31.4 ± 2.8 mV. Animals fed OTA-contaminated diet showed significant changes in serum biochemical parameters, increase kidney MDA and DNA fragmentation and decreased GPx and SOD gene expression accompanied with severe histological changes. Q and/or COS-NPs at the two tested doses induced significant improvements in all tested parameters and succeeded to overcome these effects especially in the animals treated with Q plus the high dose of COS-NPs. It could be concluded that COS-NPs are promise candidate to enhance the antioxidant effect of Q and protect against the nephrotoxicity of OTA in high endemic areas.

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