The protective effect of quercetin against hepatotoxicity induced by doxorubicin in male rats

Quercetin is one of the major flavonoids finding in many fruits and vegetables. Quercetin has many health promoting advantages such as improvement of allergic, arthritis disorder, and reduction of cancer and cardiovascular risk. The aim of this study was to examine hepatoprotective effects of quercetin on doxorubicin induced toxicity in animal model. Thirty male Wistar rats (200-230 g) were randomly divided in to 5 groups including: Quercetin group was orally treated with 20 mg/kg of quercetin for 14 days. Doxorubicin group was treated with 25 mg/kg of doxorubicin i.p. for 3 days. Doxorubicin- Quercetin group (DQ) was orally pre-treated of 20 mg/kg quercetin for 14 days with hepatotoxicity induced by i.p. injection of 25 mg/kg doxorubicin (12th, 13th and 14th days). The control and vehicle group were orally received saline (1 mL/kg), and DMSO (1 mL/kg) respectively. Sample of their livers were used to determine the myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), GPX, catalase, and histological analysis. The numerical data were evaluated by ANOVA, followed by the Tukey tests. The results show that doxorubicin could produce hepatotoxicity in rat. Also, increased liver enzymatic (ALT, AST, ALP), MPO, MDA (p<0.001), followed infiltration of inflammatory cell, and necrosis of hepatocytes also Pretreatment with quercetin reduces MPO activity (p=0.0034), MDA (p=0.0335) and the elevated liver ALT (0.009), ALP (p=0.0023) and AST activity (0.0074) in rats in DQ group. This study suggests that quercetin have a protective effect on the liver tissue against toxicity induced by doxorubicin.