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Abstract The present study was designed to illustrate the protective and therapeutic effect of coenzyme Q10 (40 mg/kg b.wt day other day for one week) in male rats treated with repeated doses of acetaminophen (200 mg / kg b.wt) daily for 14 days and/or exposed to fractionated doses of γ-irradiation (2Gy day other day up to 6 Gy ). Such effect was evaluated by measuring the activities of the most important free radical scavengers of the antioxidant defense system including reduced glutathione (GSH) in blood, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), nitric oxide (NO) as well as malondialdehyde content (MDA) as an indicator of lipid peroxidation, in plasma. Hepatocellular damage was evaluated by aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). DNA fragmentation was determined in liver tissue homogenate of all groups, besides the histological and histochemical analyses. The results of the present study revealed that AAP and γ-irradiation (individually or cooperated) have shown increases in ALT and AST activities, as well as NO and MDA levels and decreases in antioxidants SOD and GSH in addition to GST. Moreover, γ-radiation alone or together with AAP represented some increase in LDH activity, while a reduction in LDH activity was noticed with AAP alone. DNA fragmentation showed mild increase with AAP and γ-radiation (alone or combined), the histological and histochemical analyses confirmed the biochemical results. Pre and post treatments with CoQ10 ameliorated most of the investigated biochemical parameters and showed development in liver structure and even normal appearance of liver tissue sections histologicaly. |