Abstract
The aim of the study was to investigate the protective effects of Launaea procumbens methanolic extract (LM) against CCl4-induced molecular, hormonal and pathological abnormalities in rats. Male Sprague Dawley rats were provided by National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad and orally fed with 100, 200 mg/kg body weight of LM after 48 h of CCl4 treatment (3 ml/kg body weight, 30% in olive oil) biweekly for 4 weeks. The results showed that the administration of LM significantly improved the CCl4-induced serum level of hormones, argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) and DNA damages. Histopathology showed that LM reduced the incidence of adrenal lesions induced by CCl4 in rats. These results suggest that LM could protect adrenal against the CCl4-induced oxidative damage in rats. Key words: Carbon tetrachloride, Launaea procumbens, adrenal histopathology.
Highlights
The imbalance between the reactive oxygen species and the ability of biological system to detoxify these reactive intermediate or repair the resulting damage causes by them is called oxidative stress
Carbon tetrachloride has molecular formula CCl4, and its molecular weight is 153.8 g/mol, has been used as solvent in varnishes, resins and as starting material of many industrial organic compounds, and it is estimated that the average daily intake of CCl4 for a general population is 0.1 μg (Abraham et al, 1999; ATSDR, 2003)
L. procumbens at maturity was collected from Wah Cantt District Rawalpindi (Pakistan), identified and its ariel parts were shade dried at room temperature, grinded mechanically and extracted with methanol to get crude methanolic extract
Summary
The imbalance between the reactive oxygen species and the ability of biological system to detoxify these reactive intermediate or repair the resulting damage causes by them is called oxidative stress. Carbon tetrachloride has molecular formula CCl4, and its molecular weight is 153.8 g/mol, has been used as solvent in varnishes, resins and as starting material of many industrial organic compounds, and it is estimated that the average daily intake of CCl4 for a general population is 0.1 μg (Abraham et al, 1999; ATSDR, 2003). Exposure to such toxic chemical through inhalation, ingestion or skin absorption is distributed throughout the body with high concentration in liver, muscles, fat tissue brain, kidney and blood (Ogeturk et al, 2004), and damages various tissues especially liver (Khan and Ahmed, 2009). Extensive DNA strand breaks without prompt repair may cause cell death and compensatory cell regeneration (Khan et al, 2010a, b)
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