The Protective Effect of Silymarin on Cholestatic Liver Injury

Abstract

Introduction: Medical and surgical problems caused by obstructive jaundice is an important problem for surgeons and gastroenterologists. Silymarin prevents liver damage by maintaining the integrity of the plasma membrane. Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether silymarin administration would protect against cholestatic liver injury in rats with bile duct ligation. Methods: Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats with a weight of 200-240 g were used in the study. They were randomly divided into three groups (n = 10 for each group): sham group only operated (Group I), control group was bile duct ligation (BDL) (Group II), and treatment group was IR+ BDL+silymarin (Group III) Silymarin 200 mg/kg/day was given by orally to the Silymarin group for 10 days. After 10 days, all rats were sacrificed, plasma and liver samples were obtained. Blood parameters were measured and tissue level of Glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA) and copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu / Zn SOD) were determined. The degree of portal inflammation, necrosis, vacuolar degeneration, sinusoidal dilatation, vascular congestion and fibrosis were evaluated histopathologically. Results: In the silymarin treated rats, MDA levels and liver tissue Cu-Zn SOD levels were significantly lower, while GSH levels were significantly higher than that of the BDL group (p = 0.001, p = 0.05, p = 0.001, respectively). In the BDL+silymarin group, the levels of LDH were significantly lower than that of the BDL group (p = 0.01). Conclusions: Our results supported indicate that silymarin exerts a protective and therapeutic effect on cholestatic liver injury in bile duct ligated rats.