Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1506673

Cardioprotective effects of lemon and orange peels and olive oil against doxorubicin-induced myocardial damage in rats

Provisionally accepted
Amal El-Refaiy Amal El-Refaiy 1Zainab A Salem Zainab A Salem 1Abdelnaser A Badawy Abdelnaser A Badawy 2Naief Dahran Naief Dahran 3Mohammed Abu El-Magd Mohammed Abu El-Magd 4*
  • 1 Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Beni Suef, Egypt
  • 2 Faculty of Medicine, Northern Border University, Arar, Northern Borders, Saudi Arabia
  • 3 Jeddah University, Jeddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
  • 4 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Compounds originating from plants, especially citrus fruits and olive oil, have antiinflammatory, cardioprotective, and antioxidant characteristics. Doxorubicin (DOX), an anthracycline antineoplastic, induces cardiotoxicity by generating free radicals. This study aimed to evaluate the cardioprotective effects of orange (OP) and lemon (LP) peels and olive oil (OO) against DOX-induced myocardial damage in rats. The thirty adult male albino rats were randomly assigned to one of five groups, with six rats in each group. The control group was labeled Group I (Cnt), while Group II (DOX) got DOX intraperitoneally. Groups III, IV, and V were given a combination of DOX with OP, LP, or OO, respectively. After 28 days, cardiac biomarkers (AST, LDH, CK, cTnT), oxidative stress markers (NO, MDA), antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, CAT, GPx), apoptotic genes (Bax, caspase 3, Bcl-2), and inflammatory cytokines (NF-κB, TNF-α) were assessed. Histopathological analysis of the heart was also conducted. DOX-treated rats showed significant functional and structural cardiac damage, characterized by elevated AST, LDH, CK, cTnT, NO, MDA, Bax, caspase 3, NFκB, TNFα, and reduced SOD, CAT, GPx, and Bcl2 levels. These rats exhibited myocardial necrosis, inflammatory infiltration, mitochondrial damage, and myofibril atrophy. Treatment with OP, LP, or OO mitigated these effects, with OO providing the most substantial protection. These findings suggest that OP, LP, or OO can reduce DOX-induced cardiac toxicity by decreasing oxidative stress, apoptosis, and inflammation.

    Keywords: Doxorubicin, cardiomyocyte, Citrus peels, olive oil, Rats

    Received: 14 Oct 2024; Accepted: 03 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 El-Refaiy, Salem, Badawy, Dahran and El-Magd. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mohammed Abu El-Magd, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.