Preventive effect of luteolin on rat hepatic fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride and its mechanism

Purpose To investigate the protective effect of luteolin on CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis in rats.Methods Hepatic fibrosis models were induced by subcutaneous injection of CCl4 in rats.At the end of the experiment the rats were killed.The level of serum hyaluronic acid(HA),laminin(LN),alanine aminotransferase(ALT),aspartate aminotransferase(AST),total protein(TP),albumi(Alb)were assayed,and hematoxylin and eosin(HE)staining was used to examine the changes in liver histopathology,and hepatic tissue activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD),and hepatic tissue contents of malondialdehyde(MDA),and hydroxyproline(Hyp)were determined too.Hepatic stellate cells(HSC)proliferation was evaluated by MTT assay.Results Luteolin treatment groups compared with model control group:the levels of HA,LN in serum were lowered obviously(P0.05),also it decreased the serum levels of ALT,AST and the contents of Hyp,MDA in liver tissue,while the levels of SOD and Alb were increased,the hepatic fibrosis of rats was improved obviously after prevention and luteolin can significantly inhibited hepatic stellate cells proliferation(P0.05).Conclusion Luteolin has protective effect on experimental hepatic fibrosis formation.It was suggested that the possible mechanisms were associated with inhibiting fibrogenesis and fibrosis accumulation,decreasing lipid peroxidation,inhibiting HSC activation and proliferation.