article · Pharmaceuticals
Methotrexate is widely utilised in the treatment of multiple cancers, but its therapeutic potential is often restricted by severe adverse effects on healthy organs such as the liver, kidney, and heart. In an in vivo model, the administration of methotrexate impaired normal organ function and caused identifiable tissue damage across these vital systems. Testing demonstrated that pycnogenol, a polyphenolic extract derived from the bark of Pinus pinaster, countered these destructive effects. Doses of 10, 20, and 30 milligrams per kilogram of pycnogenol significantly reduced organ deterioration in a dose-dependent manner. Biochemical and microscopic analyses demonstrated that the extract alleviated oxidative damage, lowered inflammation, and reduced markers of cellular toxicity. These findings indicate that pycnogenol exhibits protective pharmacological properties capable of mitigating multi-organ toxicity associated with methotrexate therapy.
Methotrexate is an essential cancer therapy, yet its tendency to damage healthy tissues limits its clinical effectiveness and poses serious risks to patients. Demonstrating that a plant-derived polyphenolic compound can protect heart, liver, and kidney tissues could assist in developing supportive therapies. Such interventions could help patients tolerate chemotherapy better by reducing severe, organ-damaging side effects during treatment.
This work points towards supportive pharmaceutical formulations designed to protect patients undergoing methotrexate chemotherapy. The prospective users would be oncology drug developers and clinicians seeking adjuvant treatments to prevent organ damage. Because the evidence is derived entirely from early-stage in vivo testing, substantial additional preclinical validation and human clinical trials are required before any real-world clinical application.
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Methotrexate (MTX) is one of the most commonly used chemotherapies for various types of cancer, including leukemia, breast cancer, hepatocarcinoma, and gastric cancers. However, the efficacy of MTX is frequently limited by serious side effects. Several studies have reported that the cytotoxic effect of MTX is not limited to cancer cells but can also affect normal tissues, leading to prospective damage to many organs. In the present study, we extensively investigated the molecular and microscopic basis of MTX-induced toxicity in different organs (liver, kidney, and heart) and explored the possible protective effect of pycnogenol, a polyphenolic component extracted from the bark of P. pinaster, to attenuate these effects. Biochemical analysis revealed that administration of MTX significantly reduced the function of the liver, kidney, and heart. Histological and immunohistochemical analysis indicated that MTX treatment caused damage to tissues of different organs. Interestingly, administration of pycnogenol (10, 20, and 30 mg/kg) significantly attenuated the deterioration effects of MTX on different organs in a dose-dependent manner, as demonstrated by biochemical and histological analysis. Our results reveal that pycnogenol successfully ameliorated oxidative damage and reduced toxicity, inflammatory response, and histological markers induced by methotrexate treatment. Taken together, this study provides solid evidence for the pharmacological application of pycnogenol to attenuate damage to different organs induced by MTX treatment.
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DOI: 10.3390/ph15060674
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