Objective: Cisplatin is one of the most potent antitumor agents known, with clinical activity against a wide variety of solid tumours. Its cytotoxic action is DNA mediated and forms DNA adducts. High incidences of pulmonary drug toxicity have been associated with Cisplatin treatment in cancer patients. Chrysin possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. This study investigated the protective efficacy of chrysin against cisplatin-induced pulmonary toxicity.

Materials and Methods: Chrysin was administered orally (10 ml/kg body weight in corn oil) once daily for 14 consecutive days. On day 14, a single dose of Cisplatin at 7.5 mg/kg body weight was administered intraperitoneally. Reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase (CAT) activities were evaluated in lung tissues.

Results: The results showed effective protection of Chrysin against Cisplatin-induced oxidative stress, cytotoxicity and inflammation on the lungs. Chemopreventive treatment with Chrysin showed a significantly positive modulation of altered activities of GSH, GR, GST, GPx and CAT in lung tissues. The gel electrophoresis of genomic DNA especially revealed a reduction in the intensity of the change in the DNA status in Chrysin pre-treatment groups as compared with Cisplatin administered group. The histo-pathological findings correlate positively with biochemical and cellular parameters of the lungs, thus validating the protective role of Chrysin against Cisplatin-induced lung inflammation.

Conclusions: This study suggests that Chrysin plays a decisive role in protecting the lung against Cisplatin-induced lung injuries following chemotherapeutic administration.