Protective Effect of Honey Against Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles' Toxicity in Maternal and Foetal Livers of Rat

(ZnO-NPs) used in many industries such as the food industry as additives and are a group of high crystallinity-nano particles. It is a toxic substance, especially when inhaled due to Zn2+ ion that is probably the main toxic material in vivo. The present work was planned to study the protective effect of honey on pregnant rats' livers which received ZnO-NPs and their fetal livers. The pregnant rats were divided into six groups each was 6:8 pregnant rats. The first group served as a control group and received the distilled water. The 2 nd group was administered 10 ml/kg per day of honey from the 6 th to 15 th day of gestation. The 3 rd and 4 th groups were administrated two doses of ZnONPs (10 and 50 mg/kg/day) respectively from the 6 th to 15 th day of gestation. The 5 th and 6 th groups received 10 ml/kg per day of honey before administration of ZnONPs (10 and 50 mg/kg/day). Animals of all groups received the administrated materials orally then they were sacrificed on the 20 th day of gestation. The obtained results showed an increase in the pathological changes in the liver and an increase in the changes in the liver function with the two doses of ZnONPs as compared to the normal control group. Using natural honey reduces the histopathological changes caused by ZnONPs administration.