Abstract
The liver as an organ is important for the metabolism of drugs and toxins. However, it is not immune from environmental insults. Exposure of liver cells to carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) results in the generation of tricholoromethyl radicals, which induce liver toxicity. This study aims at investigating the ameliorative effect of the cinnamon aqueous extract (CAE) against CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in male albino rats. Hepatotoxicity was induced in rats through the intraperitoneal administration of 0.5 mL kg-1 body weight of CCl4. The analyses of the results obtained showed significant reduction in the levels of serum biochemical markers for 400 and 600 mg kg-1 bw of CAE protected rats as compared with CCl4 group. In addition, CAE administration reversed liver tissue damaged via increased antioxidants markers. Histopathological examination of CAE treatment on rats showed improved changes to the liver damage caused by CCl4 with no evidence of steatosis and inflammation. This result hence suggests that CAE has marked hepatoprotective and healing activities against CCl4-induced liver damage and could serve as a suitable candidate in drug discovery for the treatment of liver toxicity.
Highlights
This study investigates the ameliorative effect of the cinnamon aqueous extract (CAE) on CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in rats through the quantification of its potential antioxidant activities, the serum biochemical and histopathological analysis
Various studies illustrated that CCl4 is commonly utilized in the induction of liver injury since cytochrome P450 is responsible for its metabolism in hepatic cells, producing a strongly reactive trichloromethyl radical, that initiates a sequential events of lipid peroxidation, cellular impairment and leading to liver fibrosis (Shenoy, Somayaji, & Bairy, 2001; Weber et al, 2003; Fang, Lai, & Lin, 2008; Halliwell & Gutteridge, 2015)
The results of this study revealed that oral administration of aqueous extract of cinnamon efficiently protected against the harmful loss of those antioxidant actions after CCl4 injection, besides it is recognized to serve various biological functions, comprising cell protection from oxidative stress mediated by reactive oxygen species and free radicals (Nakamura, Torikai, & Ohigashi, 2001;Gäbele et al, 2009;)
Summary
It plays an important role to dominate numerous physiological processes which include different vital activities such as metabolism of drugs and toxins, secretion and storage (Shanmugasundaram & Venkataraman, 2006). Different stressors such as infectious agents, environmental pollutants, and hepatotoxins (carbon tetrachloride) are known to cause liver injuries (Kim et al, 2014). Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is classified as one of the most harmful substances which is usually employed for the induction of liver injuries in experimental rats (Kim et al, 2014). The liver cells have developed a defense mechanism to combat oxidative stress such as catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase as well as antioxidants substances such as vitamin E, ascorbic and GSH (Kaplowitz & Tsukamoto, 1996)
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