Vet Med - Czech, 2025, 70(10):379-392 | DOI: 10.17221/11/2025-VETMED

The effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles on the oxidative stress, caspase-3, cytokine and immunity in ratsOriginal Paper

M Gultekin ORCID...1, M Eren ORCID...1, FD Koca ORCID...2, CK Bozbek ORCID...1, N Develi ORCID...3
1 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkiye
2 Department of Aquatic Animal and Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkiye
3 Graduate School of Health Science, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkiye

This study was conducted to examine the effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) on the malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations, superoxidase dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and caspase-3 (CASP3) activities, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), immunoglobulin (Ig) E, G, M and zinc (Zn) concentrations in the serum/plasma and liver tissues of rats. Forty Wistar Albino rats were separated into five equal groups as the control, 5 and 10 mg/kg, b.w./day ZnO, 5 and 10 mg/kg b.w./day ZnO NPs were administered i.p. every other day for 14 days. The plasma MDA and plasma/liver TNF-α concentrations increased in the 10 mg/kg ZnO, 5 and 10 mg/kg ZnO NPs groups. The plasma SOD, CASP3, plasma/liver GPx activities and serum Zn concentrations increased in all the Zn groups. The highest SOD, GPx and CASP3 activities were detected in the 5 mg/kg ZnO NPs group. The plasma IgG concentrations increased, especially in the ZnO NPs groups. The study findings suggest that 5 mg/kg ZnO NPs could potentially have an ameliorative effect on the possible adverse effects of oxidative stress. These nanoparticles demonstrate their ability to combat oxidative stress by increasing the plasma/tissue SOD, GPx, and CASP3 activities, TNF-α, and IgG concentrations. However, the effectiveness of the nanoparticles may vary depending on the synthesis method, application time, and concentration.

Keywords: caspase-3; cytokine; immunoglobulin; oxidative stress; zinc oxide nanoparticles

Received: February 12, 2025; Revised: August 18, 2025; Accepted: August 25, 2025; Prepublished online: October 30, 2025; Published: October 31, 2025  Show citation

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Gultekin M, Eren M, Koca F, Bozbek C, Develi N. The effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles on the oxidative stress, caspase-3, cytokine and immunity in rats. Vet Med - Czech. 2025;70(10):379-392. doi: 10.17221/11/2025-VETMED.
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