Time-dependent Investigation of Mad Honey and Grayanotoxin on Liver Tissue

OBJECTIVE: Mad Honey (MH), which causes poisoning in people because of grayanotoxin (GTX) in it, is widely used in the treatment of some disorders, especially in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. Although it has been reported that symptoms of MH poisoning return to normal within 1-2 days, there is no detailed study about the recovery time. It is important to know how long the effects of poisoning last in order to apply the correct treatment method and to be discharged from hospital on time. The aim of this study is to investigate the toxic effects of effective dose of MH and GTX, which is the pure form of the active agent of MH, on liver tissue at molecular level depending on the time. METHODS: Mus musculus male mice were treated with 75 mg/kg DB (effective dose) and 0.01 mg/kg GTX-III, liver tissues of these mice were removed after 24 and 48 hours and examined by Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transformation Infrared (ATR-FTIR) Spectroscopy at molecular level. RESULTS: 24 h MH and GTX administration caused lipid peroxidation, a decrease in glycogen amount, an increase in saturated lipid amount, a decrease in membrane order, an increase in membrane fluidity, changes in the structure and conformations of proteins and nucleic acids. After 48 h the decrease in glycogen amount returned to normal values in both groups, the increase in the saturated lipids returned to normal values only in the MH group. However, the 48 h-period were not sufficient to return to normal values for the lipid peroxidation, changes in the structure and conformation of proteins and nucleic acids and membrane order and fluidity. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, 24 hour MH and GTX treatment induces toxic effects on liver tissue and the 48 h-period is not sufficient for normalization of all these toxic effects. The results of this study will be useful to determine the duration of treatment and discharge from hospital for patients with MH poisoning.