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ABSTRACT
Whey proteins are considered as functional food ingredients which have high cysteine content and promote the biosynthesis of glutathione—the primary intracellular antioxidant. Doxorubicin (DOX) is one of the most active antitumor antibiotics in current use. The therapeutic value of DOX, however, is limited by its toxicity. Oxidative stress is one of the underlying mechanisms of DOX toxicity in noncancerous (nontargeted) tissues. We investigated the protective effect of whey protein concentrate against DOX toxicity and oxidative stress. The administration of DOX (20 mg/kg i.p.) to BALB/c mice caused significant decrease of tissue glutathione level in the heart and severe histopathological changes, examined by light and transmission electron microscopy. These biochemical and histological alterations were effectively attenuated on pretreatment with whey protein concentrate. We therefore concluded that the protective action of whey is due to the enhancement of tissue glutathione level which might have important cytoprotective effects on oxidative stress, induced by DOX treatment.