title: Chitosan treatment abrogates hypercholesterolemia-induced erythrocyte's arginase activation.
abstract: This study aimed to evaluate the protective effect of chitosan (CS) against hypercholesterolemia (HC) induced arginase activation and disruption of nitric oxide (NO) biosynthesis using erythrocytes as cellular model. Human erythrocytes were isolated and classified into eight groups. Next, cells were treated with l-arginine (l-ARG), Nω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME), CS or CS + l-ARG in the presence of normal plasma or cholesterol enriches plasma. Then, erythrocytes were incubated at 37 °C for 24 h. The present results revealed that, HC induced significant increase of cholesterol inclusion into erythrocytes membrane compared to control. Moreover, HC caused significant decrease in nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity similar to l-NAME; however, arginase activity and arginase/NOS ratio significantly increased compared to control. On contrast, treatment of HC with, l-arginine, CS or CS plus l-arginine prevents HC induced cholesterol loading into erythrocytes membrane, NOS inhibition and arginase activation. This study suggested that CS could be protective agent against HC induced disruption of erythrocyte's oxidative status and arginase activation.
authors.affiliation: Kayyali Chair for Pharmaceutical Industry, Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Departments of Biochemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University (Boys), Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Gamaleldin I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Harisa
authors.affiliation: Departments of Biochemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University (Boys), Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt; Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Sabry M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Attia
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Department of Cell Biology, National Research Centre, Cairo 12622, Egypt.
authors.forename: Khairy M A
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Zoheir
authors.affiliation: Kayyali Chair for Pharmaceutical Industry, Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Fars K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Alanazi
keywords: Arginase; Chitosan; Erythrocytes; Hypercholesterolemia; Nitric oxide