The Effect of Combined Vitamin Treatment on Paraquat-inflicted Liver Damage

Paraquat poisoning causes serious herbicide intoxication commonly and usually as a result of deliberate or accidental ingestion. Vitamins C and E are very good antioxidants that reacts rapidly with radicals and alters lipid peroxidation. This study was done to evaluate the effect of Vitamin E and C combination therapy on the chronic toxicity of paraquat on liver markers in Wistar rats. A total of 200 male rats were used for the study. The rats were divided into four groups of 50 rats in each group (A, B, C, D) and was further subgrouped into two (0 and VEC), having 25rats per subgroup. All “0” subgroups (A0, B0, C0 and D0) except A0 were treated with paraquat in 0.02g, 0.04g and 0.06g respectively every two weeks for three months. All “VEC” subgroups (AVEC, BVEC, CVEC and DVEC) except AVEC were treated with paraquat similarly, after which they were treated with vitamin E (500mg) and C (2000mg/L) weekly for one month. AVEC was only treated with vitamin E and C. Blood samples were collected and analysed for liver function test (total and direct bilirubin, total protein, albumin and globulin). There was a significant difference in the level of all the parameters among the “Ao”, “Bo”, “Co” and “Do”, p-value<0.05 and also among the “AVEC”, “BVEC”, “CVEC” and “DVEC”, p-value<0.05. The result also showed that there were significant differences in intra-group comparison in all the liver biochemical parameters, p-value<0.05. There was no significant difference in the concentration of globulin among the subgroup. This study has confirmed that vitamin E and C combination has a therapeutic effect in male Wistar rats on two month of weekly treatment. Therefore, a weekly treatment with Vit E and C can ameliorate liver toxicity in rats.