Background: Liver damage induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) has been presented as an experimental model for research in hepatoprotective effects of natural product. A commercial medicine prepared from Anethum graveolens L (dill) is being used as dill tablet (DT) as a hypolipidemic agent. This experiment aimed to investigate the protective effect of DT against hepatic damage.
Materials and methods: Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 6) as following for a 10 days experiments. (1) Normal animals; (2) normal animals +CCl4 1 ml/kg (1:1 of CCl4 in olive oil, by gastric tube); (3) CCl4 treated animals +100 mg DT/kg; (4) CCl4 treated animals +300 mg DT/kg. After 10 days of treatment, biochemical factors were measured; also antioxidant tests such as thiol group, malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and catalase (CAT) activity in the liver samples were carried out.
Results: In dill treated animals, a significant decrease in liver enzymes lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, γ-glutamyl transferase, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, as well as triglyceride, total cholesterol (P < 0.05) were observed. Total protein and albumin concentrations were significantly increased in dill treated groups (P < 0.05). Furthermore, treatment with dill declined liver cholesterol, triglyceride, MDA, and increased TAC and CAT activity compared with untreated group (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Dill displayed a potential hepatoprotective effect against CCl4-induced liver damage based on both biochemical markers and antioxidant status.
Keywords: Anethum graveolens; carbon tetrachloride; catalase; dill; hepatoprotective.