Ann Microbiol Immunol | Volume 1, Issue 1 | Research Article | Open Access
Samira Bouhalit and Zine Kechrid*
Department of Biochemistry, University of Annaba, Algeria
*Correspondance to: Zine Kechrid
Fulltext PDFNickel cytotoxicity results in high oxygen species production, which leads to continuous injury and dysfunction of different organs including liver. Thus, the present study was conducted to investigate the protective effects of silymarin on nickel-induced hepatotoxicity. Male rats were divided into four groups of seven each: Control, silymarin (Sil), nickel (Ni), and nickel plus silymarin (Ni+Sil). Nickel as nickel sulfate (NiSO4 6H20) (20 mg/kg b.wt.) was given intraperitoneally on alternate days until the tenth dose, methanolic extract of milk thistle (100 mg/kg) was given orally to rats for 21 days. The administration of nickel caused a significant decrease in body weight with a significant increase in liver weight. Nickel treatment also produced oxidative liver injury characterized by an increase in serum glucose concentration, levels of hepatic markers enzymes (GPT, GOT, LDH and ALP) and bilirubin. Furthermore, the exposure to nickel significantly increased malondialdehyde level and decreased reduced glutathione concentration and superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities. These results are substantiated with marked changes in the histopathology. However, the treatment with silymarin significantly lowered the level of lipid peroxidation and enhanced the antioxidant status, and resulted a reduction of the necrotic damage caused by nickel and thereby restored the previous biochemical parameters. The results of this investigation showed that nickel induced hepatotoxicity due to the excess generation of free radicals and impairment anti-oxidant defenses, but the use of silymarin extract countered the adverse effects of nickel to a major extent, suggesting their anti-oxidant and immunity powerful.
Nickel; Silybum marianum; Silymarin; Hepatotoxicity; Oxidative stress
Bouhalit S, Kechrid Z. Protective Effect of Silymarin Extracted from Silybum marianum Seeds upon Nickel-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Albino Wistar Rats. Ann Microbiol Immunol. 2018; 1(1): 1005.