ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.

Sec. Cell Physiology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1576310

Subacute exposure to apigenin induces changes in protein synthesis in the liver of Swiss mice

Provisionally accepted
Łukasz JaroszŁukasz Jarosz1*Katarzyna SocałaKatarzyna Socała2Katarzyna MichalakKatarzyna Michalak1Kamila BulakKamila Bulak1Artur CiszewskiArtur Ciszewski1Agnieszka MarekAgnieszka Marek1Zbigniew GrądzkiZbigniew Grądzki1Piotr WlaźPiotr Wlaź2Edyta Kowalczuk-VasilevEdyta Kowalczuk-Vasilev1Anna RysiakAnna Rysiak2
  • 1University of Life Sciences of Lublin, Lublin, Poland
  • 2Institute of Biological Sciences, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Lublin, Poland

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Apigenin is a natural flavonoid with various pharmacological properties. Available data indicate that it affects the metabolic processes and protein profile of cells, including hepatocytes. However, there is speculation that the use of apigenin may have a hepatotoxic effect. The aim of the experiment was to assess the effect of apigenin administered intraperitoneally to mice on the concentrations of pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokines in the liver tissue and to analyse liver weight and morphological changes in the liver parenchyma. A proteomic analysis was also performed to examine differences in genes expression for specific proteins in liver cells. Adult male albino Swiss mice were divided into two groups and treated with either apigenin (50 mg/kg BW) -APG, or a vehicle (1% DMSO) -CONT, every 24 hours for 14 days. The material for the study consisted of liver samples. Slight hepatocyte degeneration microscopically were demonstrated in most mice exposed to apigenin. No significant differences were observed in the absolute and relative weight of the liver or the concentrations of pro-and antiinflammatory cytokines between the control and experimental group. The mass spectrometry results indicate significantly higher synthesis of the proteins MAP2K19, CEP69, GNMT, BPIFA3, SYT17, ANKRD1, GRHPR, CLEC1A and EF2 in the livers of mice from the APG group in comparison to CONT group. Exposure of mice to apigenin induces functional changes in the liver. In conjunction with the microscopical and proteomic analyses, this study may indicate that inflammatory changes developing in the liver could be self-limiting and subject to regenerative processes.

Keywords: Apigenin, Mouse, Liver histology, Proteomic profile, MALDI-TOF MS, cytokine concentration

Received: 13 Feb 2025; Accepted: 16 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Jarosz, Socała, Michalak, Bulak, Ciszewski, Marek, Grądzki, Wlaź, Kowalczuk-Vasilev and Rysiak. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Łukasz Jarosz, University of Life Sciences of Lublin, Lublin, Poland

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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