Protective potential of Hesperidin against Diethylnitrosamine induced Hepatocarcinogenesis in rats

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the hepatoprotective activity of hesperidin against Diethylnitrosamine (DENA) induced Phenobarbital (PB) promoted hepatotoxicity in Wistar albino rats. Twenty four male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups of 6 animals each and treated as follows: Group-I rats served as vehicle control and were treated with saline, Group-II rats were given hesperidin orally (100mg/kg) for 14 weeks, Group-III rats were administered with a single dose of DENA (200mg/kg) followed by PB orally (0.05% in drinking water) after seven days for 13 weeks, Group-IV rats were given hesperidin prior to the injection of DENA and oral administration continued for 14 weeks with the administration of PB. Administration of DENA and PB altered the levels of diagnostic liver markers (AST, ALT, ALP), antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GSH, GPx, GR) and serum bilirubin. The treatment with hesperidin restored the levels near to normal thereby confirming hepatoprotective activity of hesperidin. A section of liver was also subjected to Histopathological analysis. The findings explore that the treatment with hesperidin shows promising protective effect against DENA induced PB promoted hepatic damage.

Key words: Antioxidant enzymes, Diethylnitrosamine, Hepatocarcinogenesis, Hesperidin, Liver Marker Enzymes, Phenobarbital.