Protective Effects of Eugenol against Hepatotoxicity Induced by Arsenic Trioxide: An Antileukemic Drug

Background: Arsenic trioxide (As2O3) has shown effectiveness in the treatment of leukemia, but it is also associated with hepatotoxicity. Given antileukemic drug-induced oxidative stress and toxicity, this study focused on the mitigatory role of eugenol, a monoterpene compound from clove oil, in the hepatic tissue of Wistar rats.Methods: Twenty-four male Wistar rats (180–250 g) were randomly divided into 4 groups (6 rats per group): normal control rats, rats treated with As2O3 (4 mg/kg bwt), rats treated with eugenol (5 mg/kg bwt), and rats receiving co-treatment with As2O3 (4 mg/kg bwt) and eugenol (5 mg/kg bwt), all of which orally administered for a period of 30 days. The Tukey test (Origin version 7, Origin Lab Corporation, Northampton, USA) was applied to analyze the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) between the different groups. A P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.Result: Oral administration of As2O3 significantly induced hepatic damage, evident from increased levels of aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase (P=0.01 and P<0.001, respectively). Moreover, a decrease in the activities of enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants altered electrolyte concentration and increased the rate of lipid peroxidation (P=0.04) and the level of nitric oxide (P=0.01). Accumulation studies and histopathological analyses confirmed the biochemical variations. Co-treatment with eugenol (5 mg/kg bwt) exhibited hepatoprotective effects as manifested by the decreased rate of arsenic accumulation, lipid peroxidation, and nitric oxide level along with normalized levels of antioxidants and maintained histology of the liver.Conclusion: Eugenol may be used in combination with arsenic trioxide in chemotherapy to reduce oxidative damage to the hepatic system.