Antagonistic role of barley against bioaccumulation and oxidative stress of aflatoxin B1 in male rats

Abstract

Abstract Background This study aims to evaluate the protective effect of barley against the bioaccumulation and oxidative stress of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in male rats. The lethality percentile doses (LDs: LD1 to LD99 at 24, 48, 72, and 96 h) were measured. To achieve these goals during subacute treatments, one hundred rats were divided into five groups, each with twenty rats. The groups I, II, III, IV, and V throughout 21 days were daily given drinking water, DMSO, 2.0 g of barley/kg, and 7.49 mg/kg of AFB1 alone or in combination with 2.0 g of barley/kg, respectively. Results The results revealed that AFB1 was detected only in the liver, kidney, and serum of groups IV, in which the accumulated AFB1 exhibited a significant direct relationship with the experimental periods with a marked positive correlation coefficient. Additionally, the concentrations of AFB1 residue in the serum of rats given AFB1 alone exhibited a significant inverse relationship with the levels of GSH, activity of CAT, SOD, and GR, whereas the levels of MDA showed a significant positive relationship. In the serum of rats given AFB1 plus barley, all parameters were mostly recovered and didn’t correlate with either the experimental periods or AFB1 in the serum. Conclusions The present data concluded that barley accelerated the biotransformation of AFB1 to a hydrophilic metabolite that is easily eliminated outside the body, leading to the recovery of all studied parameters to normal levels.