Protective Role of Curcumin against N-Nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA)-Induced Toxicity in Rats.

Fahad Ali

doi:10.3797/scipharm.1506-06

Abstract

The present investigation was aimed at studying the possible role of curcumin against N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA)-induced toxicity in albino rats. Administration of NDEA to rats at a concentration of 0.1 mg/ml in drinking water ad libitum for 21 days produced toxicity in them, which was evident from histopathological changes in the rat livers, and increased levels of blood serum enzyme markers, i.e. aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, and lactate dehydrogenase. In addition, the levels of oxidative stress markers like lipid peroxidation (LPO), protein carbonyl (PCC), and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity were elevated and the total glutathione (GSH) content was reduced in the livers. The administration of curcumin to rats at concentrations of 10, 20, and 40 mg/ml in drinking water along with 0.1 mg/ml of NDEA for 21 days effectively suppressed NDEA-induced toxicity and also resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in the levels of blood serum enzyme markers (AST, ALT, ALP, and LDH). Moreover, LPO, PCC, and GST activity were reduced and the GSH level was increased upon the administration of curcumin along with NDEA. The results obtained for the comet assay in rat hepatocytes and blood lymphocytes showed a significant dose-dependent decrease in the mean tail length. The micronucleus assay performed on rat hepatocytes also showed a dose-dependent reduction in the frequency of micronucleated cells along with curcumin administration. These results suggest that curcumin has a protective role against NDEA-induced toxicity in albino rats.

Highlights

There are numerous toxic compounds present in the environment that are capable of inducing biochemical and histological transformation in humans either directly or indirectly [1]
These ethyl radicals and other reactive products soon interact with DNA leading to mutations, elevations in blood serum enzyme markers like aspartate-transaminase (AST), alanine-aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline-phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), lactate-dehydrogenase (LDH), and total bilirubin (TB), increases in oxidative stress markers such as lipid peroxidation (LPO), protein carbonyl content (PCC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT), and they cause neoplastic transformation in liver tissues [9,10,11]
In rats treated with NDEA alone (Group 1), abnormal liver function was found as compared to the control group (Group 5), which was evident by a significant increase in the activities of blood serum enzyme markers such as serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), ALP, and LDH

Summary

Introduction

There are numerous toxic compounds present in the environment that are capable of inducing biochemical and histological transformation in humans either directly or indirectly [1]. In rats treated with NDEA alone (Group 1), abnormal liver function was found as compared to the control group (Group 5), which was evident by a significant increase in the activities of blood serum enzyme markers such as SGOT, SGPT, ALP, and LDH. Treatment of animals with NDEA along with different doses of curcumin (Groups 2, 3, and 4) resulted in a significant reduction in SGOT, SGPT, ALP, and LDH levels dose-dependently, with respect to the positive control group (Table 1).

Results

Conclusion