J Vet Sci.  2008 Mar;9(1):31-37. 10.4142/jvs.2008.9.1.31.

Protective and therapeutic effects of an extract mixture of alder tree, labiate herb, milk thistle green bean-rice bran fermentation, and turnip against ethanol-induced toxicity in the rat

• Baek MW
• Seok SH
• Lee HY
• Kim DJ
• Lee BH
• Ahn YT
• Lim KS
• Huh CS
• Park JH

• KMID: 1102951
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2008.9.1.31

Abstract

An herbal extract mixture and yogurt added to the herbal extract mixture were tested for their protective and therapeutic effects on ethanol-induced liver injury. The herbal extract mixture, yogurt and commercial drugs were used for treatment for two weeks prior to administering a single oral dose of ethanol (3 g/kg body weight). The herbal extract mixture and yogurt added to the herbal extract mixture were found to provide protection against ethanolinduced toxicity comparable to the commercial drug treatment, according to the serum and histopathological analysis. It was also shown that co-treatment with herbal extract mixture and yogurt against a triple oral dose of ethanol (2 g/kg body weight, over one week) provided protection against ethanol toxicity. After the initial set of experiments, the herbal extract mixture and yogurt treatments were extended for three more weeks. When compared to the positive control, further treatment with both the herbal extract and yogurt significantly reduced liver injury and resulted in a lower grade of lipid deposition.

Keyword

ethanol-induced toxicity; herbal extract mixture; protective effect; rat; yogurt

MeSH Terms

Alnus/*chemistry
Animals
Body Weight/drug effects
Brassica napus/*chemistry
Disease Models, Animal
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Eating
Ethanol/antagonists & inhibitors/*toxicity
Fabaceae/*chemistry
Fermentation
Liver/pathology
Male
Milk Thistle/*chemistry
Oryza sativa/*chemistry
Phytotherapy
Plant Extracts/*therapeutic use
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Yogurt

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Histopathology of the liver in the experimental groups (A) negative control, (B) positive control, (C) commercial liver drug treatment, (D) yogurt treatment, H&E stain, ×200.

• 

  Fig. 2 Oil red O stain of the liver in the experimental groups. (A) negative control, (B) positive control, (C) herbal extract mixture 1 × treatment, (D) herbal extract mixture 2 × treatment, (E) commercial liver drug treatment, (F) yogurt treatment, Oil red O stain, ×200.

• 

  Fig. 3 Lipid areas in the experimental groups. NC: negative control, PC: positive control, 1 ×: herbal extract mixture 1 × treatment, 2 ×: herbal extract mixture 2 × treatment, Drug: commercial liver drug treatment, Yogurt: yogurt treatment. The lipid areas are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 5). Superscript letters (a, b) indicate groups that are significantly different (p < 0.05) from each other.

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