Prevention of cardiotoxicity of aflatoxin B1 via dietary supplementation of papaya fruit extracts in rats

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the cardioprotective ability of water (WE) and ethanolic (EE) papaya fruits extracts against cardiotoxicity induced by aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) in rats. Forty two female Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into six treatment groups and treated orally for 2 weeks as follow: control group, the group treated with WE (250 mg/kg b.w), the group treated with EE (250 mg/kg b.w), the group treated orally with AFB₁ (17 μg/kg b.w) and the groups treated orally with AFB₁ plus WE or EE. The results indicated that treatment with AFB₁ resulted in oxidative stress in the heart manifested by the marked increase in cardiac malondialdehyde and calcium levels accompanied with a significant decrease in cardiac total antioxidant capacity. Serum nitric oxide and sodium levels, lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase isoenzyme activities were significantly increased, whereas, cardiac Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase activity and serum potassium were insignificantly affected. Supplementation with WE or EE effectively ameliorated most of the changes induced by AFB₁. It could be concluded that both extracts attenuated the oxidative stress induced in heart tissue by AFB₁ and WE was more pronounced due to the higher total phenolic contents than in the EE.