Histopathological examination of the hepatoprotective effect of curcumin with piperine on thioacetamide induced hepatotoxicity in rats

Abstract

Piperine possesses bio-enhancer characteristics, while curcumin has a long history of traditional use in reviving the liver and treating illnesses and dysfunction of the liver. Thus, the goal of the current investigation was to ascertain the hepatoprotective potential of curcumin and piperine after oral administration on albino rat liver damage caused by thioacetamide. In this study, the animals were divided into five groups, each containing four rats. Groups II (received thioacetamide on the eighth day), III (received curcumin orally for seven days), IV, and V received a single dose of thioacetamide on the eighth day of the experiment. For seven days, a group I received normal saline as a control. For seven days, Group III received 200 mg of curcumin per kg of body weight. Groups IV and V received piperine for 7 days combined with curcumin at doses of 200 and 400 mg per kg of body weight, respectively. Rats of all the groups were sacrificed on the 10th day of the study. The thioacetamide treated group showed severe necrosis, hemosiderosis, and mononuclear cell infiltration around the central vein. The curcumin-treated group showed minimal hepatic necrosis and mild degenerative changes indicating restoration of normal architecture due to the hepatoprotective property of respective treatments against thioacetamide. The histo-architecture of the kidney treated with thioacetamide showed pathological changes as evidenced by tubular degeneration and distorted architecture. Treatment groups showed improvement in renal pathology. Hence, the study concluded that curcumin provided hepatoprotection against thioacetamide-induced hepatotoxicity and in combination with piperine hepatoprotective activity of curcumin was observed to be reduced.