Quercetin inhibits the cytotoxicity and oxidative stress in liver of rats fed aflatoxin-contaminated diet

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the protective role of quercetin (Q) against the cytotoxicity, DNA damage and oxidative stress in rats fed aflatoxin (AFs)-contaminated diet. Female Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into six groups and treated for 21 days as follows: the control group; the group fed AFs-contaminated diet (1.4 mg/kg diet); the groups treated orally with Q at low or high dose (50 and 100 mg/kg b.w.) and the groups AFs-contaminated diet plus low or high dose of Q. At the end of experiment, blood and liver samples were collected for biochemical, histological, histochemical and genetic analyses. The results indicated that animal fed AFs-contaminated diet showed significant increase in serum biochemical parameters, oxidative stress markers and DNA fragmentation accompanied with significant decrease in total proteins, GPX, SOD, DNA and RNA content and fatty acid synthase (Fas) and TNFα gene expression in the liver tissue. Q at the two tested doses succeeded to normalize the biochemical parameters, improved the content of nucleic acids in hepatic tissues, the gene expression, the histopathological and histochemical picture of the liver. It could be concluded that Q has a potential antioxidant activity, a protective action and regulated the alteration of genes expression induced by AFs.

Effects of lactic acid bacteria and smectite after aflatoxin B1 challenge on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility and blood parameters of broilers

“…It is possible that the circulating toxicant could damage visceral organs and their functions and consequently change the levels of their main metabolites (Kumar & Balachandran, ). Similarly, increased liver dysfunction was observed in the AFB 1 diet in this study, based on the liver function biomarkers, including cholesterol, GPT, GOT and ALK, which was consistent with reports that AFB 1 could damage visceral functions (Abdel‐Wahhab et al., ; El‐Nekeety et al., ) and alter transaminase activity (Kumar & Balachandran, ; Sandhya & Vardhani, ).…”

Aqueous extract of Dennettia tripetala ameliorates liver and kidney damage caused by multiple exposures to carbon tetrachloride

“…When an animal is exposed to an external source of free radicals (e.g., as a result of exposure to a toxic chemical) the animal's antioxidant defense mechanism steps in and tries to control the rate of deleterious bio-oxidation and molecular damage [31]. Table 5 Effect of aqueous extract of Dennettia tripetala on antioxidant enzyme activity and lipid peroxidation status in liver of rats exposed to carbon tetrachloride Table 6 Effect of aqueous extract of Dennettia tripetala on urea and creatinine concentration in the serum of rats exposed to carbon tetrachloride Several researchers have observed that the activities and expression of antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, catalase and glutathione peroxidase, drops drastically in the liver and kidney of animals exposed to an external source of free radicals compared to control animals [25,27,30,[32][33][34]. This may be explained by the fact that these radicals may inhibit (non-specifically) the synthesis as well as the activity of antioxidant enzymes in the liver and kidney at the DNA level and at the protein level respectively [31,[35][36][37].…”

Modulation of Edible Plants on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Induced by Aflatoxin B1

“…Quercetin also upregulated the antioxidant enzymes that may affect the decrease of DNA fragmentation and apoptosis [82]. Likewise, the administration between AFB1-contaminated diet in rat resulted in a decrease of total proteins and RNA content and fatty acid synthase (Fas) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) gene expression in the liver tissue caused by AFB 1 while co-administration with quercetin normalized these parameters [83].…”