Quinic acid alleviates inflammatory responses and oxidative stress in Freund’s complete adjuvant-induced arthritic rat model and associated risk factors of atherosclerosis
Iqra, Ali Sharif, Bushra Akhtar, Chuxiao Shao, Shuanghu Wang, Ayesha Younas
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Arthritis is an inflammatory disease which causes inflammation, damages joint, and increases the risk of cardiovascular disorders like atherosclerosis. Quinic acid, a naturally occurring compound, exhibits anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential. METHOD: The current study was aimed to estimate the pharmacological effects of quinic acid in Freund complete adjuvant-induced arthritis and its possible impact on associated predisposing biomarkers of atherosclerosis development. Quinic acid at various doses (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg) and methotrexate as reference drug were administered, with one group receiving combination treatment. Body weight changes, paw size, arthritic and joint stiffness score, hematological parameters, lipid profile, asymmetric dimethylarginine, homocysteine, oxidative stress, inflammatory biomarkers, and histopathological evaluation of ankle joint and heart tissues were performed to ascertain the severity of arthritis and predisposing biomarkers of atherosclerosis. RESULTS: The findings indicated that combination treatment significantly improved (p < 0.001) body weight, hematological parameters, high density lipoprotein levels, antioxidant enzyme concentrations, and expressions of dimethyl arginine dimethyl amino hydrolase and cortistatin. Simultaneously, it substantially reduces (p < 0.001) paw size, joint stiffness, arthritic score, platelets and leucocyte count, lipid markers, asymmetric dimethylarginine, homocysteine, malondialdehyde, and nitrite levels, whereas downregulation of mRNA expression of inflammatory markers (interleukin-6, interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α) was observed. It also significantly (p < 0.001) improves the histopathological parameters of ankle joint and heart tissue. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that quinic acid possessed hypolipidemic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties and may be an effective therapeutic substance for the management of polyarthritis and predisposing markers of atherosclerosis.