ng a Zeiss CCD microscope and processed using Adobe PhotoShop CS5. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, the first widely used synthetic organochlorine pesticide, was introduced all over the world to eliminate unwanted pests, and helped one billion people live free from malaria. However, its bioaccumulation, long-range transport and persistence in the environment EW-7197 chemical information properties raise the concerns about its possible long term adverse effects. The public health issues caused by DDT began to emerge in the 1950s. Though having being banned or restricted for three decades, DDT is PubMed ID:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19682730 still being used for the control of vectors in some developing countries, which becomes one major sources of occupational exposure to pesticides. DDT is now deemed as a probable human carcinogen and reportedly impaired liver cells. Liver is an important detoxification organ and a special tissue, in which persistent organic pollutants metabolize and accumulate. Liver symptoms, associated with DDT poisoning, include hepatomegaly, liver damage and liver function disorder. It has been reported that oxidative stress can be used as a biomarker to evaluate damages and a possible mechanism of DDT and DDE toxicity in humans. Furthermore, oxidative stress is closely associated with cell damage and apoptosis. As DDT may be present in livers of exposed humans and animals, it can cause liver damage via producing oxidative stress. To reduce or prevent the liver damage induced by DDT, some nature antioxidant supplements may achieve the desired effect through neutralizing the oxidative stress. Vitamin C and vitamin E, as nature antioxidants, can act to overcome oxidative stress and have been shown to possess anti-carcinogenic, anti-clastogenic, and anti-mutagenic properties in a variety of in vivo and in vitro models of pesticide exposure. VE, a major lipophilic antioxidant, resides mainly in the membranes, thus helps to maintain membrane stability, and it can promote the detoxification functions of liver cells. VC, a hydrophilic vitamin, is a very important free-radical scavenger, trapping radicals and protecting bio-membranes from per-oxidative damage. In addition, VC has been reported to be detoxification to some toxic substances, such as arsenic, benzene, bacterial toxins. VC and VE prevent PubMed ID:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19682619 the increased free radicals induced by oxidative damage to lipids and lipoproteins in various cellular compartments and tissues. Mitochondrial pathway and Fas/FasL pathway are the basic pathways in cell apoptosis. The mitochondrial apoptotic pathway is a high conservative process and can be regulated by apoptosis gene, such as Bcl-2 family and caspase family. Most of the apoptosis signals are directed into mitochondria by changing the permeability of mitochondrial membrane, causing related substances to release from the mitochondria to the cytoplasm, and mediating the cell apoptosis. In addition, Fas receptor and Fas ligand pathway is the other major and widely recognized signaling pathway triggering apoptosis. Fas, as a surface receptor, causes apoptotic cell death when cross-links with FasL. The ligation of FasL to Fas in the cell membrane triggers activation of caspase-8, then caspase-8 transduces a signal to effector caspases, including caspase-3, 26, and 2 / 22 Protective Efficacy of Vitamins C and E on p,p9-DDT 27, leading to the hydrolysis of cytosolic and nuclear substrates. Moreover, the activation of nuclear factor NF-kB is essential for the expression of FasL. The present study was undert