Asarum Long-term Toxicity Of Sd Rat Liver Tissue Morphology And Liver Function

PurposeAsarum is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)in clinics. However, its usage and amount have always perplexedthe TCM academic circles and clinical practitioners. Itsclinical application and curative effect has been limited ina large degree for a long period.In recent years, the research on Asarum's toxicity has beendone with some improvement. It is initially proved that Asarumcan not only effect the respiratory system and nervous system,but also do harm to the important organs such as liver, kidneyand heart. But until now, its toxicity for the liver hasn'tobtained the enough attention, there is just few reports ofcorrelated study. Therefore, through the method of animallaboratory, the research is deeply done on the long termtoxicity of Asarum's effect on the morphology and function ofthe liver. The research is to provide scientific basis to useAsarum safely and effectively in clinical circle.Method120 SD rats are randomly divided into 4 groups, includinglow dosage, middle dosage, high dosage of Asarum and normalcontrol group. Each group has 30 rats. The research is studiedfrom the following two aspects:1. Morphology:The livers will be taken out on time after themedicine-feeding period and convalecent period, fixed byformaldehyde, wrapped and sliced by paraffin, dyed by HE, to observe the long term toxicity of Asarum's effect on themorphology of the SD rats' livers.2. Founction:Full-automatic biochemistry analyzer is usedto detect the 4 groups' animals of both the medicine-feedingperiod and convalecent period to analyze the effect of the longterm toxicity of Asarum on the SD rats' livers.Result1. General situation:In each group, the weight and feedingpresent the direct ratio to the experimental cycle. That is tosay, both of them have very obvious increase, compared to thosebefore the medicine-feeding period (P＜0.01), but there is noobvious difference between each medicine-treated group and thenormal control group (P＞0.05). The weight and feeding of thehigh dosage group in the medicine-feeding period are lighteror less than the normal control group, the low dosage group, themiddle dosage group, but the amount don't have obviousdifference (P＞0.05). From the outward appearance, there aresome rats' activities becoming less active than those beforethe medicine-feeding period, appearing depressive with theanaerobious symptoms of slightly deep purplish auricle andpurple tongue in the middle dosage group and high dosagegroup. There isn't any other exceptional phenomenon.2. The medicine-feeding period:Through the detection of thefounction, ALT of the rats in the high dosage group is obviouslyhigher than the other three groups (P＜0.05); TBIL of the ratsin the high dosage group is very obviously higher than the normal control group and the low dosage group (P＜0.01) and isobviously higher than the middle dosage group (P＜0.05);thetargets of the rats in the low and middle dosage goups have noobvious difference compared to the normal control group(P＞0.05).Through the detection of the morphology, there aredifferent degree pathological change in the low, middle and highdosage groups. The pathological change of the liver is lighterin the low dosage group, shape necrosis can be observed bychance;small amount inflammatory cell infiltration of theliver collects district can be observed, shape necrosisincrease in the low dosage group; the pathological change ismore serious in the high dosage group, a large amount ofinflammatory cell infiltration appear, a large amount of theliver cells show ballon type denaturation and stove necrosis.3. The convalecent period: Through the detection of thefounction, the targets of the rats in each medicine-feedinggroup have no obvious difference compared to the normal controlgroup (P＞0.05);ALT, TBIL of the high dosage group in theconvalecent period are obvious low, compared to the medicine-feeding period (P＜0.05),there isn't any other difference(P＞0.05). The pathological of the three medicine-feedinggroups is lessoned through the detection of the morphology.Conclusion1. The diet and weight of rats are influenced after takingAsarum for a long time, the effect manifests in the decreaseof the diet and the loss of the weight. But the damage can be reversible after the medicine is stopped.2. The long term toxicity of Asarum exists dosage dependenceon the liver morphology and function. The long term toxicity oflow dosage has little influence. With the increase of the dosage,its influence becomes more.3. The long term usage of Asarum with high dosage will leadto the acute hepatitis injury, the manfestion is the increaseof the liver cell membrane permeability, even the nocrosis ofthe liver cell, the rise of ALT; the influence of liver'sabsorption, coalescence and drainage of the bilirubin, themanifestion is the rise of TBIL; but it has little influenceon the synthetic founction of the liver, it will not lead tothe liver cronic hepatitis evolution.4. The influence of Asarum on rats' liver morphology andfounction is a reversible injury. Two weeks later after themedicine is stopped, the liver function obviously gets better,the injury of the liver morphology also lessens.