Protection Of Curcumin On Alcoholic Liver Injury In Rats

Objective To reproduce an experimental model of alcoholic liver injury in rats and to investigate the effects of curcumin on lipid peroxidation and expression of nuclear factorκB induced by ethanol in rats.Methods 40 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups(8 rats/ group):control group,model group,curcumin treatment(40,80,160mg/kg) groups,control group intragastrically infused with normal saline,the other groups intragastrically infused with 56%(v/v)of ethanol,6.72g/(kg.d),after 6 weeks, curcumin treatment(40,80,160mg/kg)groups respectively added curcumin 40mg/kg,80mg/kg,160mg/kg.At the end of 12 weeks,all rats were killed.Levels of serum ALT,AST,ALP were measured.SOD,MDA,NO contents in the liver tissue were determined.The expression of NF-κB in the liver tissue were determined with immunohistochemical analysis and liver samples were obtained for routine histological examination.Results The serum ALT,AST,ALP levels and the contents of MDA,NO in the liver tissue were significantly increased in model group than in control group (86.4±7.5 vs 33.5±10.3,201.0±16.8 vs 116.5±12.0,205.1±20.0 vs 104.6±9.4, 3.29±0.34 vs 1.35±0.12,4.37±0.21 vs 2.72±0.13,P＜0.01),SOD activity was markedly decreased(80.21±4.55 vs 180.24±27.53,P＜0.01).However,curcumin treatment groups markedly degraded the levels of serum ALT,AST,ALP,as well as the contents of MDA,NO in the liver tissue(66.5±9.6/52.4±12.0/40.9±7.9 vs86.4±7.5, 171.4±10.8/145.8±11.9/135.0±11.8 vs 201.0±16.8,76.4±13.7/146.9±13.8/127.1±12.6 vs 205.1±20.0,2.84±0.27/1.95±0.23/1.95±0.23 vs 3.29±0.34,4.01±0.17/3.60±0.16/ 3.60±20.16 vs 4.37±0.21,P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).Inversely,the SOD activity was elevated (92.36±6.47/117.69±21.96/146.70±27.36 vs 80.21±4.55,P＜0.05 or P＜0.01). Immunostaining for NF-κB showed that intensity of staining in model group was strong,degree of staining were decreased in groups treated with curcumin.Liver histological changes in model group showed obviously steatosis,focal necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration,in curcumin treatment groups,the pathological changes were milder to varying degrees.Conclusion Curcumin can relieve or prevent alcohol intoxication induced liver injury in rats by inhibiting lipid peroxidation and the expression of NF-κB.