Abstract
Cardiac toxicity is a public health issue that can be caused by both environmental and occupational exposures. The current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of carvedilol (CV), Acetovanillone (ACET), and their combination for ameliorating cadmium (Cd)-induced oxidative stress, inflammation, and necroptosis. Rats were assigned to; the normal group, Cd group (2 mg/kg; i.p., single dose), and the other three groups received orally CV (10 mg/kg), ACET (25 mg/kg), and CV plus ACET, respectively and a single dose of Cd. Oral administration of CV, ACET, and their combination significantly dampens cardiac oxidative injury by increasing antioxidants GSH and SOD levels, while it decreases MDA and NADPH oxidase levels mediated by decreasing cardiac abundance of Nrf2, HO-1, and SIRT1 and downregulating KEAP-1 and FOXO-3 levels. Also, they significantly attenuated inflammatory response as indicated by reducing MPO and NOx as well as proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 mediated by downregulating TLR4, iNOS, and NF-κB proteins expression as well as IκB upregulation. Moreover, they potently counteracted cardiac necroptosis by downregulating RIPK1, RIPK3, MLKL, and caspase-8 proteins expression. Of note, the combination of CV and ACET have marked protection that exceeded each drug alone. Conclusively, CV ad ACET potently mitigated Cd-induced cardiac intoxication by regulating NADPH oxidase, KEAP-1/Nrf2/HO-1, SIRT1/FOXO-3, TLR4/NF-κB/iNOS, and RIPK1/RIPK3/MLKL signals.