Abstract:

Objective To study the protective effect of pomegranate seed extracts (PSE) on liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride (CC1₄) in mice,and to provide theoretical basis for further development and utilization of pomegranate seeds.
Methods Forty male Wistar mice were randomly divided into five group : control group,model group,and different doses of PSE (200,400,600 mg.kg^-1)groups.The mice in control and model group were lavaged with distilled water and the mice in PSE groups were lavaged with 200,400,600 mg.kg^-1  PSE and there were 8 mice in each group. All the mice were treated as above for seven consecutive days prior to 0.2% of CCl₄ injection(10 mL.kg^-1) intraperitoneally for model group and PSE group to induce liver injury,while the mice  in control group were given olive oil. Sixteen hours later,all the mice were killed and the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT),aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactic dehydrogenases (LDH) were determined;the pathological changes of liver tissues were examined by HE staining method. Results Compared with model group,PSE could reduce the serum levels of ALT,AST and LDH (P<0.05);the HE staining results showed swelling of liver cells and eosinophilic changes and there was a large area of inflammatory infiltration in model group,while in experiment group, the pomegranate seed extracts could significantly inhibit the formation of eosinophilic changes and reduce the liver inflammatory infiltration with the increasing of PSE concentration and the effect of 600 mg.kg^-1 dose was most obvious. Conclusion PSE has significantly protective effect on liver tissues in mouse liver injury models,and the protective effect of liver tissues is more obvious with the increasing of dose.

Key words: pomegranate seed extract;carbon tetrachloride;liver injury