The protective role of curcumin against toxic effect of nonylphenol on bone development

Introduction: In the study, it was aimed to investigate the possible protective effects of curcumin, a potent antioxidant, against the toxic effect of nonylphenol on bone development. Methods: Thirty pregnant female Wistar albino rats were used. The rats were randomly divided into the following five groups; the control group, corn oil group (150 µl/kg/day), nonylphenol group (50 µl/kg/day), curcumin group (100 mg/kg/day) and curcumin + nonylphenol group (100 mg/kg/day + 50 µl/kg/day). The doses were given by gavage from the 5th day to the 20th day of gestation. The fetuses were removed out on the 20th day of pregnancy by cesarean at the end of the study. After the sacrifice of the animals, double skeletal staining in front extremity (clavicula, scapula, humerus, radius, ulna) and hind extremity (femur, tibia, fibula), additionally histological and immunohistochemical examinations in femur bone were performed. Results: The nonylphenol group offspring have the lowest weights of fetuses and placenta, head-to-hip lengths, biparietal and occipitofrontal length, and also, bone length percentage and percentage of the ossification area in all measurements of the front extremity and hind extremity Interestingly, the groups treated with curcumin showed close to the control group in terms of double skeletal staining, histological, and immunohistochemical examinations. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated an association between bone development and exposure to nonylphenol. The findings suggest that curcumin treatments may be effective in accelerating bone formation.