Doxorubicin (DOX), which is used to treat cancer, has harmful effects that limit its therapeutic application. Finding preventative agents to thwart DOX-caused injuries is thus imperative. Artemisia annua has numerous biomedical uses. This study aims to investigate the attenuative effect of Artemisia annua leaf extract (AALE) treatment on DOX-induced hepatic toxicity in male rats. A phytochemical screening of AALE was evaluated. Forty male rats were used; G1 was a negative control group, G2 was injected with AALE (150 mg/kg) intraperitoneally (i.p) daily for a month, 4 mg/kg of DOX was given i.p to G3 once a week for a month, and G4 was injected with DOX as G3 and with AALE as G2. Body weight changes and biochemical, molecular, and histopathological investigations were assessed. The results showed that AALE contains promising phytochemical constituents that contribute to several potential biomedical applications. AALE mitigated the hepatotoxicity induced by DOX in rats as evidenced by restoring the alterations in the biochemical parameters, antioxidant gene expression, and hepatic histopathological alterations in rats. Importantly, the impact of AALE against the hepatic deterioration resulting from DOX treatment is through activation of the PI-3K/Akt/Nrf-2 signaling, which in turn induces the antioxidant agents.
Keywords: Artemisia annua; antioxidants; doxorubicin; hepatotoxicity; phytochemicals.