Effect of Silymarin against Deltamethrin - Induced Histological and Biochemical Changes in Liver of Albino Rats

Treating male albino rats with the pyrethroid insecticide, deltamethrin induced various histological changes in the liver. These changes included congestion of blood vessels, leucocytic infiltration, cytoplasmic vacuolization of the hepatocytes and fatty infiltration. Deltamethrin also caused significant elevation in serum ALT and AST enzymes after 2 and 3 weeks of treatment. . Silymarin, an extract from seeds and fruits of Silybum marianum, is used in prevention of many liver diseases. Treating animals with both deltamethrin and silymarin led to an improvement in the histological changes induced by deltamethrin. Moreover, a significant decrease in ALT and AST activity was detected. The results of the present work indicated that silymarin has an ameliorative effect against liver damage induced by deltamethrin. This effect may attribute to its potent antioxidant activities.