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Shivani Singla , Neelima R. Kumar , Jaspreet Kaur

Abstract

Objective: Since anticancer drugs are to be administered for long durations of time and are associated with systemic toxicities, the present studies were conducted to evaluate the protective potential of honey bee propolis against a widely used anticancer drug, doxorubicin (DXR) induced toxicity and oxidative damage in liver tissues of rats. Materials and Methods: Sixteen male Sprague Dawley rats, weighing between 200-220 g, were used and were divided into four equal groups. Propolis was given orally to rats [250 mg/kg body weight (bw) for 14 consecutive days] and DXR [25 mg/kg bw; intraperitoneally (i.p) was administered on 12th, 13th and 14th day of the experiment. All the animals were sacrificed on day 15th day by decapitation. Blood and tissue samples were collected for measurement of toxicity and oxidative damage parameters (enzymatic assays and biochemical estimations). Results: Administration of DXR for 3 days at a cumulative dose of 25 mg/kg bw, induced toxicity and oxidative stress in rats as significantly decreased activity of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione‑S‑transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GSH‑Px) and glutathione reductase (GR) were observed in rat liver supernatants when compared to control group. Increased activity of serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) and serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) was obtained in DXR administered rats. Also there are significantly increased levels of lipid peroxides (measured as malondialdehyde formation) and significantly decreased level of glutathione (GSH) in doxorubicin treated rat liver supernatants as compared to healthy controls. On the other hand, administration of animals with propolis prior to DXR treatment led to significant modulation of the oxidative damage related parameters in liver and hepatotoxicity parameters in blood, when compared to doxorubicin treated group. However results were still not comparable to control group or only propolis group indicating partial protection by propolis at the concentration used against anticancer drug toxicity. Conclusion: Propolis extract was found to have a protective effect against doxorubicin‑induced toxicity in rat liver though it was still not normalized. It can be concluded that propolis provides partial protection from toxicity of anticancer drug.

Keywords

Antioxidant, doxorubicin, liver toxicity, oxidative stress, propolis

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Neelima R. Kumar ¹, Sonika Sangwan ¹, Pooja Badotra ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Zoology, Punjab University, Chandigarh - 160 014, IN

Abstract

The present study was carried out to find the effect of cell phone radiations on various biomolecules in the adult workers of Apis mellifera L. The results of the treated adults were analyzed and compared with the control. Radiation from the cell phone influences honey bees’ behavior and physiology. There was reduced motor activity of the worker bees on the comb initially, followed by en masse migration and movement toward ’’talk mode’’ cell phone. The initial quiet period was characterized by rise in concentration of biomolecules including proteins, carbohydrates and lipids, perhaps due to stimulation of body mechanism to fight the stressful condition created by the radiations. At later stages of exposure, there was a slight decline in the concentration of biomolecules probably because the body had adapted to the stimulus.

Keywords

Apis mellifera, biomolecules, cell phone radiations, hemolymph

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