الفهرس Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 182 |  |  |
| | | from | 182 | | |
Abstract
Curcumin has potent anticancer effects in different cancer types. However, the therapeutic applications of curcumin are limited due to its high metabolic instability, poor absorption and bioavailability. Zearalenone (ZEN) is a mycotoxin has hepatotoxic effects and induces adverse liver lesions. The aims of the current study were to prepare curcumin nanoparticles (CurNPs) and to evaluate its protective role against ZER-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 6 treatment groups and treated for 3 weeks as follow: the control group, the groups treated with low dose (100 mg/kg b.w) or high dose (200 mg/kg b.w) of CurNPs and the groups treated with ZEN (40 og/kg b.w.) alone or in combination with CurNPs at the two tested doses. Blood and tissue samples were collected for different biochemical, cytological analyses and histological examination. The prepared CurNPs showed an average size of 100.5 ± 40 nm and negative zeta potential value of 27.5 ± 3.43 mV at natural pH. The results of the biological study revealed that treatment with ZEN alone resulted in a significant increase in liver function parameters, lipid peroxidation (MDA) and DNA fragmentation accompanied with a significant decrease in body weight gain, antioxidant capacity and down regulation of GPX mRNA gene expression as well as severe histological changes in the hepatic tissue. Animals treated with CurNPs at the two tested doses were comparable to the control group. The combined treatment with CurNPs at the two tested doses plus ZEN resulted in a significant improvement in all tested parameters and histological picture of liver tissue in a dose-dependent manner. It could be concluded that CuNPs could overcome the problems associated to the poor solubility of curcumin and succeeded to induce a potential protection against hepatotxicity induced by ZEN mycotoxins