Assessment of Oxidative Liver Injury Caused by Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) via Interacting with Bcl2 Gene in Male Wistar Rats and Basic In-silico Approaches

Cashew nut is a profitable cash crop and cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) also has industrial applications. However, CNSL contains cardanol and cardol that reportedly affect the skin as well as the internal structures of the workers of cashew processing units. This study was undertaken to determine the adverse effect of CNSL in the hepatic tissue of male Wistar rats by chronic topical application. CNSL were applied topically for 45 days in the second group of Wistar rats while the first group did not receive any treatment (control) and the third group received Sunflower oil (SFO, positive control). Compared with control and SFO-treated groups, rats exposed to CNSL showed marked reduction in body weight with enlarged liver and altered serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), urea and creatinine. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was higher along with elevated level of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). In contrast, the levels of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase were downregulated. A higher expression of tumor protein P53 and Protein kinase-B or Akt (PKB/Akt) gene followed by comparatively feeble expression of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl2) was detected. Possible interaction of cardanol and cardol with Bcl2-homology domain (BH1 and BH4) of Bcl2 may exhibit inhibitory action following the CNSL exposure. Our study explored that CNSL application on the skin could also develop a metabolic injury with altered oxidative, inflammatory, necrotic and apoptotic status in the affected animals besides skin damage.