Research Note: Taraxasterol alleviates aflatoxin B1-induced oxidative stress in chicken primary hepatocytes

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is the most toxic subtype of aflatoxin in feed. Poultry is sensitive to AFB1, and the liver is the main target organ of AFB1. Our previous studies have shown that taraxasterol iso-lated from the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Taraxacum has protective effects against immune -medi-ated and alcoholic-induced liver injuries. This study aimed to investigate whether taraxasterol has the pro-tective effect and its mechanism against AFB1-induced injury in chicken primary hepatocytes in vitro. The chicken primary hepatocytes were induced with AFB1 (0.05 mg/mL), and treated with taraxasterol (5, 10, and 20 mg/mL). The results showed that taraxasterol increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) activity and decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in AFB1-induced hepatocytes. Moreover, taraxasterol up-regulated the mRNA and protein expression of anti-oxidant-related factors heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), NADPH quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) and nuclear factor erythroid E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), while down-regulated the expression of oxidant-related factor Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1) in Nrf2/Keap1 signaling pathway. In addition, taraxas-terol effectively reduced AFB1-induced hepatocyte autophagy and inhibited the mRNA expression of autophagy-related genes Beclin-2, LC3-I, LC3-II, and ATG-5. Taraxasterol also inhibited AFB1-induced hepatocyte apoptosis and decreased the mRNA expres-sion of apoptosis-related genes Caspase3 and Caspase9. These findings indicates taraxasterol alleviates oxidative stress in AFB1-induced chicken hepatocytes by activat-ing Nrf2/Keap1 signaling pathway, and regulating the cell autophagy and apoptosis.