Therapeutic Effect of Dunaliella salina Microalgae on Thioacetamide- (TAA-) Induced Hepatic Liver Fibrosis in Rats: Role of TGF-β and MMP9

BioMed Research International

Abeer Salama¹  Farouk K. El-Baz²  Rania A. A. Salama³ 

[1] Pharmacology Department, National Research Centre (NRC), 33 El Bohouth St. (Former El-Tahrir St.), 12622 Dokki, Giza, Egypt, nrc.sci.eg;Plant Biochemistry Department, National Research Centre (NRC), 33 El Bohouth St. (Former El-Tahrir St.), 12622 Dokki, Giza, Egypt, nrc.sci.eg;Toxicology and Narcotics Department, National Research Centre (NRC), 33 El Bohouth St. (Former El-Tahrir St.), 12622 Dokki, Giza, Egypt, nrc.sci.eg;

DOI  :  10.1155/2019/7028314

来源: publisher

【 摘 要 】

Liver fibrosis represents a serious global health-care problem and is the outcome of many chronic liver diseases, cirrhosis, hepatitis, and toxin accumulation. The present study aimed to evaluate the antifibrotic curative effect of Dunaliella salina (D. salina) on thioacetamide- (TAA-) induced liver fibrosis in rats. Liver fibrosis was induced by TAA (200mg/kg; i.p.) twice per week for 6 weeks. D. salina was given orally (100 and 200 mg/kg) and silymarin was given orally (100 mg/kg) daily, for 4 weeks after TAA. Serum transaminase activities, liver inflammatory cytokines, fibrotic biomarkers, and liver histopathology were assessed. TAA significantly (p<0.05) elevated serum activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and serum levels of total bilirubin, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) with a reduction in albumin. In addition, TAA increased hepatic contents of collagen I, a-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP-1), reduced matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9), and finally produced marked degeneration and fibrosis of hepatocytes. Treatment with D. salina or silymarin improved the histological feature of hepatocytes and ameliorated the deleterious effects of TAA in a dose-dependent manner. Based on these results, it could be concluded that the use of D. salina could be assigned for liver fibrosis treatment via its anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic properties.

【 授权许可】

CC BY