Turmeric extract and its active compound, curcumin, protect against chronic CCl4-induced liver damage by enhancing antioxidation.
BACKGROUND
Curcumin, a major active component of turmeric, has previously been reported to alleviate liver damage. Here, we investigated the mechanism by which turmeric and curcumin protect the liver against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced injury in rats. We hypothesized that turmeric extract and curcumin protect the liver from CCl4-induced liver injury by reducing oxidative stress, inhibiting lipid peroxidation, and increasing glutathione peroxidase activation.


METHODS
Chronic hepatic stress was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of CCl4 (0.1 ml/kg body weight) into rats. Turmeric extracts and curcumin were administered once a day for 4 weeks at three dose levels (100, 200, and 300 mg/kg/day). We performed ALT and AST also measured of total lipid, triglyceride, cholesterol levels, and lipid peroxidation.


RESULT
We found that turmeric extract and curcumin significantly protect against liver injury by decreasing the activities of serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase and by improving the hepatic glutathione content, leading to a reduced level of lipid peroxidase.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that turmeric extract and curcumin protect the liver from chronic CCl4-induced injury in rats by suppressing hepatic oxidative stress. Therefore, turmeric extract and curcumin are potential therapeutic antioxidant agents for the treatment of hepatic disease.
['Lee|Hwa-Young|HY|', 'Kim|Seung-Wook|SW|', 'Lee|Geum-Hwa|GH|', 'Choi|Min-Kyung|MK|', 'Jung|Han-Wool|HW|', 'Kim|Young-Jun|YJ|', 'Kwon|Ho-Jeong|HJ|', 'Chae|Han-Jung|HJ|']
D000818:Animals D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride D056486:Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury D030024:Curcuma D003474:Curcumin D005978:Glutathione D015227:Lipid Peroxidation D008055:Lipids D008099:Liver D008297:Male D018384:Oxidative Stress D010936:Plant Extracts D020011:Protective Agents D051381:Rats D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley D015203:Reproducibility of Results
Curcumin Carbon tetrachloride Oxidative stress Glutathione Lipid peroxidase