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The Ameliorative Effect of Silymarin on Cadmium‐Treated Human Lung Carcinoma Cells
Author(s) -
Webster Camille A,
Latinwo Lekan M.,
Badisa Veera L.D.,
Odewumi Caroline O.,
DarlingReed Selina F.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.1105.14
Subject(s) - silybum marianum , comet assay , cadmium , viability assay , cadmium chloride , dna damage , chemistry , milk thistle , pharmacology , cancer research , dna , biology , cell , traditional medicine , biochemistry , medicine , organic chemistry
Purpose Cadmium is a non‐essential metal and environmental hazardous pollutant. The exposure of cadmium causes damage to all organs of human body and mainly accumulates in the liver and lungs due to cigarette smoke that contains cadmium. This leads to cancer in different organs of the body. Silymarin is a polyphenolic antioxidant flavonoid complex found in the herb, Silybum marianum (milk thistle seed). Methods In this study, the ameliorative effect of silymarin on the viability and the DNA damage was evaluated in cadmium‐induced human lung carcinoma cells (A549) by comet assay. Results The results showed that treatment of human lung carcinoma cells with cadmium chloride alone for 24 h resulted in decrease in cell viability; while co‐treatment with silymarin showed an increase in viability. The human lung carcinoma cells treated with cadmium chloride alone increased the tail DNA and tail length; while co‐treatment with silymarin decreased the tail DNA and tail length in both single and double strand DNA comet assays. Conclusion Our results clearly show the ameliorative effect of silymarin on the viability and DNA damage in human lung carcinoma cells and suggest that it can be used for prevention and treatment of cadmium toxicity.