anti-cytokine storm activity of fraxin, quercetin, and their combination on lipopolysaccharide-induced cytokine storm in mice: implications in covid-19

Background: cytokine release syndrome (crs) is the leading cause of mortality in advanced stages of coronavirus patients. this study examined the prophylactic effects of fraxin, quercetin, and a combination of fraxin+quercetin (fq) on lipopolysaccharide-induced mice.methods: sixty mice were divided into six groups (n=10) as follows: control, lps only, fraxin (120 mg/kg), quercetin (100 mg/kg), dexamethasone (5 mg/kg), and fq. all treatments were administered intraperitoneally (ip) one hour before induction by lps (5 mg/kg) ip injection. twenty-four hours later, the mice were euthanized. interleukin one beta (il-1β), interleukin 6 (il-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (tnf-α) were quantified using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa), and lung and kidney tissues were examined for histopathological alterations. this study was conducted at al-nahrain university, baghdad, iraq, in 2022. results: fq reduced il-1β (p<0.001). all treatments significantly suppressed il-6, fraxin, quercetin, dexamethasone, and fq, all with p<0.001. the tnf-α level was reduced more with dexamethasone (p<0.001) and quercetin (p<0.001). histopathological scores were significantly reduced mainly by quercetin and fq in the lungs with scores of 12.30±0.20 (p=0.093), and 15.70±0.20 (p=0.531), respectively. the scores were 13±0.26 (p=0.074) and 15±0.26 (p=0.222) for quercetin and fq in the kidneys, respectively.conclusion: all used treatments reduced proinflammatory cytokine levels and protected against lps-induced tissue damage.