Open AccessSelective toxicity of Caspian cobra ( Naja oxiana ) venom on liver cancer cell mitochondria
Author(s) -
Enayatollah Seydi,
Shabnam Babaei,
Amir Fakhri,
Jalal Pourahmad
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
asian pacific journal of tropical biomedicine/asian pacific journal of tropical biomedicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.507
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 2588-9222
pISSN - 2221-1691
DOI - 10.1016/j.apjtb.2017.01.021
Subject(s) - cobra , mitochondrion , venom , apoptosis , chemistry , cytotoxicity , reactive oxygen species , toxicity , liver cancer , cytochrome c , snake venom , pharmacology , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , biology , cancer research , hepatocellular carcinoma , in vitro , computer science , programming language , organic chemistry
Objective: To explore the cytotoxicity effects of Caspian cobra (Naja oxiana or N. oxiana) venom on hepatocytes and mitochondria obtained from the liver of HCC rats.Methods: In this study, HCC was induced by diethylnitrosamine (DEN), as an initiator, and 2-acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF), as a promoter. Rat liver hepatocytes and mitochondria for evaluation of the selective cytotoxic effect of N. oxiana venom were isolated and mitochondria and cellular parameters related to apoptosis signaling were then determined.Results: Our results showed a raise in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, swelling in mitochondria, mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) collapse and release of cytochrome c after exposure of mitochondria only isolated from the HCC group with the crude venom of the N. oxiana (12.5, 25, and 50 μg/mL). This crude venom also induced caspase-3 activation (P < 0.001) in the hepatocytes obtained only from the HCC rat liver.Conclusions: Based on the over all results, we suggested that N. oxiana may be considered as a promising complementary therapeutic agent for the treatment of HCC