Protective role of fennel oil supplementation against oxidative stress in rats fed pcbs-contaminated diet

Abstract EN

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent environmental contaminants.

Human and animals are exposed to PCBs via oral ingestion of contaminated food.

PCBs were found to induce reproductive toxicity, immune suppression, birth defects, cancer and developmental and behavioral changes.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the protective role of fennel oil against PCBs toxicity.

Forty male Sprague-Dawley male rats were divided into four groups including the control group, a group treated with PCBs (250 5g / kg b.w) and groups treated with fennel oil (5 mg/kg b.w) alone or in combination with PCBs for 15 days.

The results indicated that treatment with PCBs resulted in significant increase in Alanine transaminase (ALT) and Aspartate transaminase (AST), cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), lipid peroxidation (LPO), nitric oxide (NO) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) whereas it significantly decrease Glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity.

The histopatholgical examination of the liver, kidney and testis showed sever histological changes.

Animals treated with fennel oil alone or plus PCBs were comparable to the controls regarding the biochemical parameters or the histological picture of liver, kidney and testis.

It could be concluded that fennel oil has a protective effect against PCBs toxicity and may be used as food supplementation to protect against the hazardous effects of PCBs.