Premium
Therapeutic effect of melatonin on carbon tetrachloride‐induced acute liver injury in rats
Author(s) -
Ohta Yoshiji,
Kongo Mutsumi,
Sasaki Emi,
Nishida Keiji,
Ishiguro Isao
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of pineal research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1600-079X
pISSN - 0742-3098
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-079x.2001.280208.x
Subject(s) - melatonin , carbon tetrachloride , ccl4 , medicine , liver injury , endocrinology , intraperitoneal injection , albumin , chemistry , glutathione , lipid peroxidation , lipid peroxide , serum albumin , oxidative stress , biochemistry , enzyme , organic chemistry
The therapeutic effect of melatonin on acute liver injury was examined in rats intoxicated with carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ). Melatonin (10, 50, or 100 mg/kg body weight [BW]) was intraperitoneally administered to male Wistar rats 6 hr after intraperitoneal injection of CCl 4 (1.6 g/kg BW) at which time an apparent liver injury occurred. This post‐melatonin administration dose dependently prevented the progression of liver injury at 24 hr after CCl 4 injection, judging from the levels of serum transaminases, indices of liver cell damage. Rats injected with CCl 4 alone showed an increase in liver lipid peroxide (LPO) content and a decrease in liver reduced glutathione content at 6 and 24 hr after the injection. The post‐melatonin administration dose dependently ameliorated both changes found at 24 hr after CCl 4 injection. Rats injected with CCl 4 alone showed an increase in liver triglyceride (TG) content and decreases in serum TG concentration and liver tryptophan 2,3‐dioxygenase (TDO) activity, a marker of the inhibition of liver protein synthesis by CCl 4 , at 6 and 24 hr after the injection, and also a decrease in serum albumin concentration at 24 hr. The changes in serum TG, albumin concentration, liver TG content, and TDO activity found at 24 hr after CCl 4 injection were not ameliorated by the post‐administration of melatonin. The same administration of melatonin dose dependently reduced liver LPO content in CCl 4 ‐untreated rats. These results indicate that melatonin exerts a therapeutic effect on CCl 4 ‐induced acute liver injury in rats, possibly through its antioxidant action.