title: Expression of bax and bcl2 Genes in MDMA-induced Hepatotoxicity on Rat Liver Using Quantitative Real-Time PCR Method through Triggering Programmed Cell Death.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  3-4methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a synthetic and psychoactive drug, which is known popularly as Ecstasy and has toxic effects on human organs.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Considering the potential toxic interaction, this study was performed to quantify the expression of bax and bcl2 genes in MDMA-induced hepatotoxicity on rat liver. Subsequently, we evaluated pentoxifylline as a possible protective drug on hepatotoxicity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adult male Wistar rats weighting 250 - 300 grams were used in the study. The rats were equally distributed into four experimental groups (5 rat/group). MDMA was dissolved in PBS and injected intraperitoneally (IP) including untreated control, MDMA (MDMA dissolved in PBS), treated-1 (MDMA followed by PTX) and treated-2 (PTX followed by MDMA). All animals given MDMA received 3 doses of 7.5mg/kg with two hours gap between doses. Liver tissue was removed after anaesthetizing. Subsequently, RNA isolation, cDNA synthesis and Real-Time PCR were performed. Finally, data analyzed statistically to determine significantly differences between the groups (P value < 0.05).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using Real-Time quantitative PCR results, the gene expression ratio of bcl2 were calculated 93.80±20.64, 340.45 ± 36.60 and 47.13 ± 5.84 fold in MDMA, treated-1 and treated-2 groups, respectively. Furthermore, this ratio for bax gene obtained 2.13±0.33 fold in MDMA, 1.55 ± 0.26 fold in treated-1 and 10.44 ± 1.56 fold in treated-2 groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study focused on molecular mechanism of MDMA in programmed cell death using gene expression quantification of a pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptoic gene in MDMA-induced hepatotoxocity. The results showed that MDMA prompted apoptosis in liver and pentoxifylline protected against hepatotoxicity before and after taking MDMA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Faculty of Sciences, Sciences and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mitra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Behroozaghdam
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Tehran Medical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashemi
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Faculty of Sciences, Sciences and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Javadi
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Department, Biotechnology Research Center, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mahdian
authors.affiliation: Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran; Department of Anatomy, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mansoureh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soleimani
keywords: Anti-Apoptotic Gene; MDMA; Pentoxifylline; Pro-Apoptotic Gene; qReal-Time PCR