Ellagic acid Alleviates hepatic ischemia–reperfusion injury in C57 mice via the Caspase-1-GSDMD pathway

BACKGROUND: Ellagic acid (EA) has improving function against oxidative damage and inflammatory reaction in many disorders. Hepatic ischemia–reperfusion injury (IRI) is a common pathophysiological phenomenon in the veterinary clinic. In the present study, the protective effects of EA pretreatment against hepatic IRI-induced injury and the underlying mechanisms were investigated. RESULTS: We found that pyroptosis is involved in hepatic IRI, which is manifested in increasing the expression of pyroptosis-related genes and promoting the expression of active caspase-1, thereby cleaving GSDMD-N to cause pyroptosis, and caspase-1(−/−) mice were used to verify this conclusion. In addition, we found that EA protects against hepatic IRI by inhibiting pyroptosis, including reducing the activity of caspase-1 and its expression in the liver, inhibiting the lysis of GSDMD-N, and reducing the levels of IL-18 and IL-1β. CONCLUSIONS: The present results have demonstrated that prophylactic administration of EA ameliorated hepatic IRI by inhibiting pyroptosis induced in hepatic ischemia–reperfusion in vivo through the caspase-1-GSDMD axis, providing a potential therapeutic option prevent hepatic IRI in pets. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12917-022-03326-0.