Abstract
Background and Objective: Treatment of tumor with chemotherapeutic drugs is the most widely tool to prevent cancer progression. However, hepatotoxicity is one of the major side effects resulted by using these drugs. So, using natural products isolated from medicinal plants is one of the promising methods to reduce the side effects of the chemotherapy. In Egypt there are several medicinal plants which were already used in therapy of many diseases. Thus, the goal of the current study was to evaluate the protective role of Zygophyllum album (Z. album) against hepatotoxicity resulted from doxorubicin (DOX) induced genetic and biochemical alterations in liver of male mice. Materials and Methods: Male mice (n = 70) were allocated in several groups treated with different doses of Z. album extract alone or in combination with DOX. Results: The results showed that male mice treated with DOX showed significant increase in the chromosomal aberrations either in the bone marrow or in spermatocyte cells, increase the rate of DNA fragmentation and increase the micronucleus formation as well as increase the MDA activity. In contrast,treatment of DOX-exposed mice with Z. album extract decreased these harmful effects. Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the protective action of Z. album extract could be attributed to inhibition the ROS generation induced by DOX. This protective action of Z. album may be resulted by the presence of the phenolic compounds which have repair actions of the DNA structure in several mammalian cell types.