Potential hepatoprotective effects of fullerenol C60(OH)24 in doxorubicin-induced hepatotoxicity in rats with mammary carcinomas

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential protective role of fullerenol C60(OH)24 on doxorubicin-induced liver toxicity using in vivo (female Sprague–Dawley rats) and in vitro (human hepatocellular carcinoma – HepG2; colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines – Caco-2) approaches. The first (healthy control) and second (control with chemically induced mammary carcinomas) group received saline only. The third, fourth and fifth group (all with breast cancer) were injected (i.p.) with a single dose of doxorubicin (8 mg/kg), doxorubicin/fullerenol (100 mg/kg of fullerenol 30 min before administration of 8 mg/kg doxorubicin) and fullerenol (100 mg/kg), respectively. Two days after treatment, the rats were sacrificed. Results showed that treatment with doxorubicin alone caused significant changes in the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and α-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (α-HBDH), as well as in the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), total antioxidant status (TAS), glutathione reductase (GR), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the liver tissue. These effects were significantly reduced for all investigated parameters by pre-treatment with fullerenol but not for the MDA and GSH level. The HepG2 and Caco-2 cell lines were continuously treated with fullerenol for 12 h, 24 h, 48 h and 96 h at concentrations of 10 μg/mL and 44 μg/mL. With the aim of evaluating the modulating activity of fullerenol on doxorubicin-induced hepatotoxicity, the cell lines were simultaneously treated with doxorubicin (1 μm; 5 μm) and fullerenol (10 μg/mL; 44 μg/mL) in different combinations. When the cells are treated with 5 μm doxorubicin along with the fullerenol, we can see a significant improvement of the cell capability during the entire time-line. We can conclude that fullerenol has cytotoxic effects on HepG2 by itself, but when the oxidative stress is too high the cytotoxic effects of fullerenol are overcome by its protective role as a strong antioxidant compound.