ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to investigate the chemopreventive effect of probiotic fermented milk and chlorophyllin on aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) induced hepatocellular carcinoma. In vivo trials were conducted on 200 Wistar rats allocated to eight groups. Rats in the positive control group were given intraperitoneal injection of aflatoxin B1 at 450 µg/kg body weight twice a week for 6 weeks. The rats were sacrificed and dissected at 25th week of the experiment, and comet assay was carried out in hepatic cells to assess the genotoxicity or DNA damage. The tumour incidence was decreased by approximately one-third than AFB1 control group. The expression of c-myc bax, bcl-2, cyclin D1, p53 and rasp-21 genes was also studied. A significant (P<0.05) reduction in DNA damage was observed in probiotic fermented milk with chlorophyllin group as compared to aflatoxin B1 control group. The c-myc, bcl-2, cyclin D1 and rasp-21 level was found to be highest in AFB1 control group as compared to the treatment group. The results advocate the enhanced protective potential of probiotic fermented milk and chlorophyllin against AFB1-induced molecular alterations in hepatic cells during carcinogenesis.
