Eugenol protects nicotine-induced superoxide mediated oxidative damage in murine peritoneal macrophages in vitro.

The present work is aimed at evaluating the protective effect of eugenol against in vitro nicotine-induced toxicity in murine peritoneal macrophages, compared with N-acetylcysteine. Eugenol was isolated from Ocimum gratissimum and characterized by HPLC, FTIR, (1)H NMR. To establish most effective protective support, we used five different concentrations of eugenol (1, 5, 10, 15, and 20microg/ml) and N-acetylcysteine (0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 5.0microg/ml) against 10mM nicotine in mice peritoneal macrophages. A dose-dependent protective effect was observed with all doses of eugenol and N-acetylcysteine, as evidenced by decreased level of superoxide anion generation and malondialdehyde, and also increased level of reduced glutathione, and superoxide dismutase activity. Moreover, maximum protection was observed at the concentration of 15.0microg/ml eugenol (0.09nM) and 1.0microg/ml N-acetylcysteine (0.006nM). Further, eugenol (15.0microg/ml) and N-acetylcysteine (1.0microg/ml) were tested against nicotine (10mM) toxicity by analyzing the radical generation, lipid, protein, DNA damage, and endogenous antioxidant status. There was a significant increase in the level of radical generation, NADPH oxidase and myeloperoxidase activity, lipid, protein, DNA damage and oxidized glutathione level in nicotine-treated group, which were significantly reduced by eugenol and N-acetylcysteine supplementation. Antioxidant status was significantly depleted in the nicotine-treated group, which was effectively restored by eugenol and N-acetylcysteine supplementation. The protection by eugenol against nicotine toxicity was merely equal effective to that of N-acetylcysteine. These findings suggest the potential use and benefit of eugenol isolated from O. gratissimum as a modulator of nicotine-induced cellular damage and it may be used as an immunomodulatory drug against nicotine toxicity.