Esculin protects human blood cells from bioallethrin-induced toxicity: An ex vivo study

Bioallethrin, a household insecticide, is a member of the pyrethroid family and is known for its adverse effects on human health. Human exposure to pyrethroids is unavoidable due to their widespread use in controlling several fatal vector-borne diseases, mostly in developing nations. Bioallethrin is known to induce oxidative stress in target cells, including erythrocytes. Here we have studied the protective effect of dietary antioxidant esculin on bioallethrin-induced damage in isolated human erythrocytes. The cells were incubated with 200 μM bioallethrin, without or with different concentrations of esculin (200, 400 and 600 μM), and the results compared to the untreated control samples. Bioallethrin-treated erythrocytes showed a significant increase in oxidative stress markers, like protein and lipid oxidation, accompanied by decrease in free amino groups and ratio of reduced to oxidized glutathione. There was enhanced generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species with changes in plasma membrane integrity. Bioallethrin oxidized hemoglobin to methemoglobin, which cannot transport oxygen. It altered the activities of antioxidant enzymes and lowered the electron donating and free radical quenching ability of erythrocytes. The cell morphology and redox system of erythrocyte membrane were also altered by bioallethrin. Treatment with esculin, prior to incubation with bioallethrin, led to significant restoration in all these parameters in an esculin concentration-dependent manner. Thus esculin attenuated the biolletherin-induced oxidative damage to erythrocytes. Esculin can, therefore, be an effective chemoprotectant against xenobiotic-induced toxicity in human erythrocytes.