Effects of melatonin on acute liver injury induced by ethanol in rats

Aim To investigate the effects and the mechanisms of melatonin on rat liver injury induced by acute ethanol administration.Methods 24 male SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups.Acute alcoholic liver injury was induced by gavage with ethanol in SD rats.Serum activities of alanine aminotransferase(ALT),aspartate aminotransferase(AST) were measured with routine laboratory methods using an autoanalyzer.Malondialdehyde(MDA) and superoxide dismutase(SOD) levels in liver homogenates were assayed by spectrophotometry.Histopathological change was observed with hematoxylin and eosin(HE) staining.The expressions of TNF-α and IL-1β in the liver tissues were tested by immunohistochemistry.Results Compared with model group,melatonin could ameliorate ethanol-induced hepatic fat degeneration.The activities of ALT and AST in melatonin treatment group were markedly lower than those in model group.Treatment with melatonin significantly reduced MDA content and increased SOD activity in liver homogenates compared with model group.Moreover,the levels of TNF-α and IL-1β expression in rat liver in melatonin treatment group was significantly lower than those in model group.Conclusions Melatonin can ameliorate liver injury induced by acute ethanol administration in rats.It may be related to its antioxidant activities and inhibiting the expression of TNF-α and IL-1β.