Pre- and post-treatment effects of date fruit phenolics in cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity

Cisplatin is a popular chemotherapy drug effective in treatment of many solid tumours, however, it is limited by its liver toxicity essentially induced by oxidative stress and inflammation. Meanwhile plant phenolics have a long history of antioxidative and anti-inflammatory capabilities, but, information on the ability of phenolics derived from Date (<i>Phoenix dactylifera</i>) Fruits to modulate this condition remains underexplored. This study investigates the effects of Date Fruit Phenolics (DFP) against cisplatin-induced hepatic damage in male Wistar rats. Wistar rats were administered DFP (200 mg/kg body weight) daily for 7 days, while treated with or without a single intraperitoneal dose of cisplatin (5 mg/kg body weight) either 2 hrs prior to DFP on day 1 (CisB+DFP) or 2 hrs prior to DFP on day 7 (CisE+DFP). All the animals were allowed to have access to water and feed ad-libitum. They were sacrificed 24 hrs after cisplatin administration for histological (Hematoxylin/Eosin, and Periodic Acid Schiff stains), biochemical, inflammatory and redox biomarker analyses. Chromatographic, spectroscopic, and in vitro antioxidative assays were performed to elucidate the phytochemical content, structural features, and antioxidative potentials of DFP. Cisplatin significantly increased hepatic injury markers, lipid peroxidation, and nitric oxide levels, while decreasing glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase activities (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, DFP significantly modified these observations, with corroborative evidence from histological analysis. Additionally, the chemical constituents in DFP showed significant antioxidative and functional properties. The findings suggest that DFP could offer effective protection against cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity which could be beneficial for combination therapy in cancer treatment.