The protective effect of ZnO nanoparticles on liver and impairments induced by Paclitaxel treatment in female Wista rat

Paclitaxel is a chemotherapy drug inhibiting cell growth. In some studies, patients with normal liver function have experienced increase in bilirubin, ALT and AST by using paclitaxel. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ef-fect of intra-peritoneal injection of doses 5 and 10 mg/kg nZnO on the liver of rats treated with paclitaxel. 35 adult fe-male Wistar rats were divided into 7 groups including control, sham (saline injection), experimental groups1 and 2 (nZnO injection), experimental group 3 (paclitaxel injection), experimental groups 4 and 5 (nZnO and paclitaxel inje-ction). Liver function was examined 28 days after the end of injection. Experimental group3 had large and swollen liver morphology. Most hepatocytes had dense nuclei and changed cell shape indicating of cell death. Blood test showed si-gnificant increase in the levels of ALT, AST and bilirubin and decrease in the level of ALP in comparison with the co-ntrol group. In experimental groups 4 and 5, cell shape alterations, increase in cell death and increase in liver markers were remarkably reduced in comparison with the experimental group 3, in a way that there were no significant differ-ences with the control group. No significant differences were observed between the control group and experimental gr-oups 1 and 2. According to the findings, nZnO can reduce the side effects of paclitaxel on liver tissue.