Immunoexpression of CD34, CD68 and CD3 in Cadmium-Induced Liver Damage and Protective Effectiveness of Bee Bread (Perga)

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the potent environmental toxicants that causes oxidative stress in many organs of the body, including the liver. Perga (bee bread) is used for apitherapeutic purposes due to its medicinal properties. This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of perga on endothelial damage and inflammatory cell activation in the liver as a result of exposure to Cd. For this purpose, 32 male Wistar rats (8 rats/group) were randomly divided into 4 groups, as the control, perga (0.5 g/kg of perga), Cd (5 mg/kg of CdCl2), and Cd + perga (0.5 g/kg of perga + 5 mg/kg of CdCl2) groups. Daily intragastric Cd and/or perga was administered for 4 weeks. At the end of the study, the rats were euthanized and liver tissue sections were taken and stained with hematoxylin-eosin and Masson’s Trichrome. Immunohistochemically, the reactivity of the liver sinusoidal endothelium was determined using CD34, the reactivity of the Kupffer cells was determined using CD68, and the levels of T-lymphocyte cells were determined using CD3 antibodies. Exposure to Cd caused significant histological changes in the liver. Immunohistochemically, exposure to Cd caused an increase in the expressions of CD34, CD68, and CD3. On the other hand, the cotreatment of Cd and perga caused partial improvement in some histopathological changes. Compared to the Cd group, there was a decrease in CD34 and CD68 positivity in the Cd + perga group, while no significant difference was detected in the number of CD3-positive cells between the groups. The results revealed that the histopathological changes and inflammation in the rat liver could partially improve with perga supplementation.