Treatment with quercetin (NDEA+Q) resulted in

approximately normalization of GR and GPX activities, based on non-significant difference between NDEA+Q and control groups (Table 2). Table 2 Effect of quercetin treatment on liver oxidant/antioxidant biomarkers in NDEA-induced liver carcinogenesis in rats PD98059 concentration Parameter Control NDEA-Treated group NDEA+Q group MDA nmol/g liver 55.6 ± 3.41 90.4 ± 8.01a 60.8 ± 3.30b GSH mg/g liver 1.5 ± 0.104 3.82 ± 0.149a 3.26 ± 0.088ab GR nmol/mg GS-9973 protein/min 80.1 ± 2.53 101 ± 5.95a 83.6 ± 2.30b GPX nmol/mg protein/min 324.36 ± 7.6 397.2 ± 13.16a 315.6 ± 6.09b a. Significantly different from control. b. Significantly different from NDEA-administered rats. Histopathological examination Hepatic histopathological features of control,

NDEA-treated and NDEA+Q rats were illustrated in Fig. (4). Normal liver tissue showed hepatic lobule with normal architecture (Fig. 4a). Hepatic lobules were normal, each lobule consisted of normal hepatocytes arranged in hepatic strands, normal hepatic vein and each lobule contained blood vessels and bile ducts (Fig. 4a). No lipid droplets have been observed in the hepatocytic cytoplasm. No signs of blood congestion in blood vessels have been observed throughout the sections (Fig. 4a). AZD6738 Liver tissue of the NDEA-treated rats showed pleomorphism of nuclei, some cells exhibit multiple nucleoli (encircled), others are pyknotic (Pyk), some cells possess intranuclear vacuole (IV), some showed cAMP cytoplasmic vacuoles (V) and cellular infiltration (Inf) (Fig. 4b). Massive area of vacuolated hepatocytes (VH), cellular infiltration (Inf) and pyknotic nuclei were shown in Fig. (4c). Vacuolated cytoplasm (V), hyperchromatic nuclei (HC), pyknotic nuclei (Pyk) and numerous Kupffer cells (K) were seen in Fig. (4d). Hyperchromatic malignant nuclei (HCM) were exhibited in Fig. (4e). Liver tissue of the quercetin (NDEA+Q) treated rats showed normal hepatic lobule architecture (normal hepatocytes, hepatic vein, nuclei and blood vessels). Some bile droplets were observed in Fig. (4f). Fig. (4g) showed normal hepatocytes,

hepatic vein, nuclei, bile ducts and blood vessels. Figure 4 Histopathological examination of animal livers. a: control animals; b, c, d and e: animals treated with NDEA as cancer inducer; f and g: animals treated with NDEA+Q. Discussion Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most frequent hepatic primary neoplasm. Its geographic distribution is inhomogeneous, with high, medium and low zones of incidence [26]. In the present study, RAPD, cluster and statistical analyses indicated the closer relation between control and NDEA+Q samples. Meanwhile, NDEA-treated samples were clustered in a separate group. These results were subsequently confirmed by specific PCR assay for polymorphism of P 53 gene which revealed a uniform pattern of allele separation in both control and NDEA+Q samples.