The investigation of the protective effect of boron against aflatoxin B1 induced liver injury in male rats

Contamination of aflatoxins, which has an important place among mycotoxins, from food and feed brings serious health problems on human and animal health. Because of their intake, special toxic effects (carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic effects) and hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic, genotoxic, and immunosuppressive effects occur in tissues and organs, especially in the liver. For this reason, various substances with antioxidant properties are primarily preferred to prevent undesirable damage caused by aflatoxins. It has been reported that boron and its compounds have antioxidant, cell protective, and antigenotoxic effects. In this thesis, it was aimed to investigate the protective effect of boron in rats with subacute Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) liver damage. In the study, 0,125 mg/kg AFB1 and 5, 10, and 20 mg Boron/kg doses of boric acid were given to male Sprague Dawley rats for 21 days. It was determined that AFB1 tretament increased liver enzyme activities (AST, ALT, and ALP) and lipid peroxidation (MDA) levels, on the other hand, it caused a decrease in glutathione (GSH) and antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD and CAT). In addition, it was determined that the mRNA expression levels of apoptotic (Bax, Caspase 3, Caspase 8, Caspase 9, and p53) and proinflammatory (TNF-α and NFκB) genes in liver tissue increased and the mRNA expression of the antiapoptotic gene (Bcl-2) decreased. It was observed that AFB1 tretament increased DNA damage and caused histopathological changes in the liver tissue. It was determined that boron applications at doses of 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg given with AFB1 reversed these negative changes. As a result, it was determined that boron exhibited hepatoprotective effect together with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic effects against AFB1-induced liver damage.