Effect of the leafy vegetable Solanum nigrum on the activities of some liver drug-metabolizing enzymes after aflatoxin B 1 treatment in female rats

Abstract

Wistar albino female rats were maintained for 10 d on diets containing various levels of the vegetable Solanum nigrum. Simultaneously, they received daily intraperitoneal injections of aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) (either 0.2 or 0.4 mg/kg body-weight) diluted in propylene glycol. At the end of the experiment, all animals were killed and their serum and hepatic microsomes were prepared for assay of enzymes. Results showed that aminopyrine N-demethylase activity increased 2.5-fold with 200 (S 200 ) and 600 (S 600 ) g S. nigrum /kg diets. Activity of uridine diphosphate glucuronyltransferase (UDPGT) ( EC 2.4.17) also increased twofold. Similar results were obtained with glutathione S-transferase ( EC 2.5.1.18) activity which increased by 60% with diet S 600 . After AFB 1 treatment, a general increase in the activities of the above enzymes was found, except for UDPGT in the group fed on diet S 600 . When rats were fed on the diet without S. nigrum, AFB 1 induced an increase in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) ( EC 3. 1. 3. 1), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) ( EC 2. 6. 1. 1) and γ-glutamyltransferase (γ-GT) ( EC 2. 3. 2. 2) levels in the serum. AFB 1 also induced increases in serum ALP and γ-GT levels when rats were fed on diet S 600