Doxorubicin a photosensitive antibiotic is frequently used to treat various malignancies in clinics; however, doxorubicin is also taken up by the normal cells of the body leading to increased oxidative stress and subsequently DNA damage and dysfunction in the cells. The agents which can reduce the adverse effect of doxorubicin will of great value. The present study has attempted to study the effect of naringin a citrus flavonoid on the doxorubicininduced oxidative stress in mice liver. The mice were administered with 0, 1, 5 or 10mg/ kg body weight of doxorubicin and treated with 10mg/kg body weight of naringin before or after doxorubicin treatment. The glutathione concentration and lipid peroxidation and activities of glutathione-s-transferase, catalase and super oxide dismutase were studied at 0.5, 1, 2 and 4h post-treatment in the mouse liver. The doxorubicin increased the lipid peroxidation in a dose dependent manner at all the post treatment times. Conversely, it attenuated the activities of glutathione-s-transferase, catalase and super oxide dismutase in dose dependent fashion and time dependent manner. A similar effect was observed for glutathione concentration. Treatment of mice with naringin before or after doxorubicin treatment elevated all the antioxidants and reduced the doxorubicin -induced lipid peroxidation. The effect of naringin pretreatment was more effective when compared to its post treatment. The naringin was very effective in reducing the oxidative stress induced by doxorubicin as indicated by the elevated levels of glutathione concentration, glutathiones-transferase, catalase and super oxide dismutase. The pretreatment of naringin was better than its post treatment.

SOJ Biochemistry Open Access Research article cancer chemotherapeutic drugs, which acts on the specific phase of the cell cycle, especially the S phase of cell division [2]. The doxorubicin has been introduced in the clinics to treat various malignant diseases in the early 1970s and remains an integral part of various modern chemotherapeutic regimens where it is used to treat different malignant neoplasia including Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, myeloblastic leukemias, breast cancer, small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, childhood solid tumors, hepatocarcinomas, soft tissue sarcomas, Kaposi's sarcoma, and bone tumors [3-7].