Fipronil Induced Hepatotoxicity, Genotoxicity, Oxidative Stress and the Possible Ameliorative Effect of Ginseng

Fipronil (FPN) is a wide-spectrum insecticide and has been extensively used in agriculture since 1990s. The current study was deliberated to inspect the retrograde effects of exposure to the FPN on the hepatic tissues of male rats at concentration 10 mg/L in drinking water for 30 days. Serum aspartate aminotransferases (AST), alanine aminotransferases (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and tumor necrosis factor –α (TNF-α) were significantly increased in FPN-treated rats. Oxidative stress biomarkers such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reduced (GSH) were significantly decreased, while malondialdehyde level (MDA) was significantly increased in treating rats in a concentration dependent manner. From the obtained results, it can be concluded that FPN elicited lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress and liver injury in rats and ginseng has protective effect against lipid peroxidation induced by FPN as ginseng lowers the level of MDA and increased levels of SOD and CAT and also ginseng improved the immunological capacities by diminishing the level of TNF-α. These pathophysiological changes in liver tissues could be due to the toxic effect of FPN that related to a production of free radicals.