Antioxidative stress effects of vitamins C, E, and B12, and their combination can protect the liver against acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity in rats

Farah M Abdulkhaleq,1 Tawfiq M Alhussainy,1 Mujtaba M Badr,2 Asad A Abu Khalil,2 Omar Gammoh,3 Bayan Y Ghanim,2 Nidal A Qinna1,2 1Department of Pharmacology and Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of Petra, Amman, Jordan; 2University of Petra Pharmaceutical Center (UPPC), University of Petra, Amman, Jordan; 3Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Madaba, Madaba, Jordan Background: Several vitamins, including C, E, and B12, have been recognized as antioxidants and have shown hepatoprotective effects against the hepatotoxicity caused by acetaminophen (APAP) overdose. The current investigation aims to study the effect of these vitamins and their combination in protecting the liver from APAP hepatotoxicity in rats. Materials and methods: An in vitro model of freshly isolated rat hepatocytes was utilized for assessing hepatocyte mitochondrial activity conducted by cell proliferation assay (MTT). The isolated hepatocytes were treated with vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B12 and their combination, with and without further addition of toxic concentrations of APAP. In addition, an in vivo experiment was carried out on Sprague Dawley rats treated intraperitoneally for 8 days with emulsions of the vitamins or their combination prior to injecting them with APAP. Results: In vitro results showed that vitamins C and B and the combination preparation significantly increased the percentage of hepatocyte mitochondrial activity, both with and without the addition of APAP (P