Anticarcinogenic effect of probiotic fermented milk and chlorophyllin on aflatoxin-B1-induced liver carcinogenesis in rats

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of probiotic fermented milk (FM) containing Lactobacillus rbamnosus GG and Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota, alone as well as in combination with chlorophyllin (CHL) as an antioxidant agent in male Wistar rats administered aflatoxin-B-1 (AFB(1)). AFB(1) was injected intraperitoneally at the rate of 450 mu g/kg body weight per animal twice a week for 6 weeks, maintaining an equal time interval between the two consecutive AFB(1) administrations. A total of 125 male Wistar rats were randomly allocated to five groups, each group having twenty-five animals. Group I was offered FM containing L. rbamnosus GG and L. casei strain Shirota. Group II was administered AFB(1) and served as the control group; group III was administered FM-AFB(1), in which besides administering AFB(1), FM was also offered. Group IV was offered CHL and AFB(1), and group V was offered both FM and CHL along with AFB(1). The rats were euthanised at the 15th and 25th week of the experiment and examined for the biochemical and hepatopathological profile. A significant reduction in thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) was observed in the FM-CHL-AFB(1) group compared with the AFB(1) control group. FM alone or in combination with CHL was found to show a significant (P<0.05) hepatoprotective effect by lowering the levels of TBARS and by enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione-S-transferase, indicating that probiotic FM alone or in combination with CHL possesses a potent protective effect against AFB(1)-induced hepatic damage.