Anticarcinogenic effect of probiotic fermented milk and chlorophyllin on aflatoxin-B1-induced liver carcinogenesis in rats

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of probiotic fermented milk (FM) containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota, alone as well as in combination with chlorophyllin (CHL) as an antioxidant agent in male Wistar rats administered aflatoxin-B₁ (AFB₁). AFB₁ was injected intraperitoneally at the rate of 450 μg/kg body weight per animal twice a week for 6 weeks, maintaining an equal time interval between the two consecutive AFB₁ administrations. A total of 125 male Wistar rats were randomly allocated to five groups, each group having twenty-five animals. Group I was offered FM containing L. rhamnosus GG and L. casei strain Shirota. Group II was administered AFB1 and served as the control group; group III was administered FM-AFB₁, in which besides administering AFB₁, FM was also offered. Group IV was offered CHL and AFB₁, and group V was offered both FM and CHL along with AFB₁. The rats were euthanised at the 15th and 25th week of the experiment and examined for the biochemical and hepatopathological profile. A significant reduction in thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) was observed in the FM-CHL-AFB₁ group compared with the AFB1 control group. FM alone or in combination with CHL was found to show a significant (P < 0·05) hepatoprotective effect by lowering the levels of TBARS and by enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione-S-transferase, indicating that probiotic FM alone or in combination with CHL possesses a potent protective effect against AFB₁-induced hepatic damage.