Hepatoprotective and antioxidant effects of Wu-Zi-Yuan-Chung-Wan against CCl4-induced oxidative damage in rats

This study was designed to investigate the hepatoprotective potentials of the Wu-Zi-Yuan-Chung-Wan (WZYCW) using an animal model of carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) induced liver injury. CCl 4 induced chronic liver hepatotoxicity in adult Sprague-Dawley rats. Excluding the control group, all of the rats with chronic liver fibrosis received 0.4% CCl 4 (1.5 mL/kg of body weight, ip) twice per week for 8 weeks. WZYCW (20, 100, and 500 mg/kg) and silymarin (200 mg/kg) were administered five times per week for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, the rats were sacrificed, blood samples were obtained, and liver histological examinations were performed for subsequent assays. These results suggest that WZYCW considerably reduced Glutamic Oxaloacetic Transaminase (GOT), Glutamic Pyruvic Transaminase (GPT), Triglyceride (TG); and cholesterol activity; and the levels of malonaldehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), and transforming growth factor-β 1 (TGF-β 1 ) in the liver. WZYCW also increased the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione reductase (GR) in liver tissue. WZYCW produced hepatoprotective and antifibrotic effects. This is the first study to demonstrate that WZYCW expressed hepatoprotective activity against CCl 4 induced acute hepatotoxicity in rat. In addition, the primary compound of WZCYW was analyzed using HPLC. The major peaks of WZCYW, including schizandrin. The results indicate that WZYCW not only enhances hepatic antioxidant enzyme activities and inhibits lipid peroxidation but also suppresses inflammatory responses in CCl 4 induced liver damage. Our findings provide evidence that WZYCW possesses a hepatoprotective activity to ameliorate chronic liver injury.