Abstract
Background: Arsenic toxicity remains a major environmental and pharmacological concern in sub-Saharan Africa, with limited safe antidotes. Chronic exposure induces oxidative stress, hematologic dysfunction, and multi-organ injury through redox imbalance. Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii (SCb), a β-glucan-rich probiotic yeast, possesses antioxidant and immunomodulatory properties that may mitigate arsenic toxicity. This study combined in vivo and in silico approaches to elucidate the protective mechanisms of SCb against sodium arsenate-induced oxidative and hematologic alterations.
Methods: Thirty male Wistar rats were randomized into five groups (n = 6): control, arsenic only (100 mg/L), arsenic + SCb (500 mg/kg), arsenic + sodium thiosulfate (25 mg/kg), and SCb only. Treatments were administered orally for 28 days. Oxidative stress markers (malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT)) and hematologic indices (hemoglobin (Hb), Red blood cell (RBC), packed cell volume (PCV)) were evaluated. Major SCb bioactive compounds were docked against antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx)) using AutoDock Vina, while pharmacokinetic and drug-likeness properties were assessed using SwissADME.
Results: SCb exhibited no acute toxicity up to 6500 mg/kg. Arsenic significantly increased MDA and reduced CAT, SOD, PCV, and Hb (all p < 0.05). SCb co-treatment significantly improved CAT, SOD, PCV, and Hb when compared with arsenic alone (p < 0.05). Docking revealed strong binding affinities of 2,4-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-phenol and vanillic acid (–5.0 and –5.3 kcal/mol) with SOD and GPx, comparable to ascorbic acid. ADMET profiling demonstrated favorable pharmacokinetic properties.
Conclusion: β-glucan-rich SCb confers significant protection against arsenic-induced oxidative and hematologic toxicity via antioxidant enzyme modulation and stable ligand–protein interactions.
Keywords: Arsenic toxicity; β-glucan; molecular docking; oxidative stress; Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii
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