Despite the emerging concerns about the hepatotoxic risks associated with Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), yet, the morphological and molecular alterations associated with these extensively-used nanoparticles remain to be elucidated. Thus, the current study has been designed to analyze the effect of ZnO NPs on the hepatic histopathological and immunohistochemical changes, along with the modulation of the oxidative-stress induced JNK/p38MAPK and the STAT-3 signalling. The study also explored the potential protective role of selenium against those alterations. ZnO NPs disrupted the hepatic architecture, elevated the serum liver enzyme alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels and caused dose-dependent decrease in the activity of the antioxidant enzymes glutathione-peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase along with an increase in the lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde. ZnO NPs also increased the area of immune-reactivity of the apoptotic protein bax and decreased the area of immune-reactivity of the anti-apoptotic protein bcl2 together with augmentation of the hepatic caspase 3 gene expression. The role of selenium in ameliorating the hepatotoxicity, oxidative stress injury, and apoptosis induced by ZnO-NPs, along with its role in modulating the JNK/p38MAPK and the STAT-3 signalling and improving the histopathological hepatic changes, offers selenium as a promising adjunctive therapy in individuals subjected to high concentrations of ZnO NPs especially in cases of extensive occupational, medicinal and industrial exposure.

尽管人们对与氧化锌纳米颗粒 (ZnO NPs) 相关的肝毒性风险产生了新的担忧，但与这些广泛使用的纳米颗粒相关的形态和分子变化仍有待阐明。因此，目前的研究旨在分析 ZnO NPs 对肝脏组织病理学和免疫组织化学变化的影响，以及对氧化应激诱导的JNK / p38MAPK的调节。和 STAT-3 信令。该研究还探讨了硒对这些改变的潜在保护作用。ZnO NPs 破坏了肝脏结构，提高了血清肝酶丙氨酸转氨酶 (ALT)、天冬氨酸转氨酶 (AST) 和碱性磷酸酶 (ALP) 水平，并导致抗氧化酶谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶、超氧化物歧化酶和过氧化氢酶随着脂质过氧化产物丙二醛的增加而增加。ZnO NPs 还增加了凋亡蛋白 bax 的免疫反应面积并降低了抗凋亡蛋白 bcl2 的免疫反应面积，同时增强了肝 caspase 3 基因表达。硒在改善 ZnO-NPs 诱导的肝毒性、氧化应激损伤和细胞凋亡中的作用，JNK / p38MAPK和STAT-3信号传导和改善组织病理学肝脏变化，为接受高浓度 ZnO NPs 的个体尤其是在广泛的职业、医疗和工业暴露的情况下提供了硒作为一种有希望的辅助疗法。