Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a mainliver malignant tumors with a high rate of death. Nearly one million persons are affected by this hazard diseaseannually worldwide. New chemoprevention strategies are urgently needed to reduce mortality from this disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential chemopreventive impacts of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) and/or silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) against 1,2-dimethylhydrazine dihydrochloride (DMH) caused liver carcinoma. DMH was administered as a single dose (16mg/kg) intrarectally once weekly for six successive weeks. ALA (8.5 mg/kg) and Ag-NPs (400 mu g/kg) were orally administered to DMH injected rats daily for four weeks after DMH administration. The results revealed that administration of ALA and /or Ag-NPsto DMH injected rats, significantly reduced the increases in the levels of the serum hepatic tumor markers, namely alpha-fetoprotein(AFP), carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA) and alpha-L-fucosidase( AFU) as well as the alterations in the serum liver function markers, namely alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), direct and total bilirubin, total protein and albumin compared with DMH untreated animals. Conclusion: The current study revealed that treatment of HCC induced rats with ALA and /or Ag-NPs was effective in down-modulating the serum liver tumor markers as well as the serum liver function indices. The combination of these two agents was the effective one in ameliorating of the most of studied parameters. Thus, utilizing this combination as a chemopreventive remedy may reduce the liver damage caused by carcinogenesis.