Abstract

Liver diseases are among the major health problems worldwide. Despite their increasing frequency, high morbidity and mortality, medical management is supposed to be insufficient; no therapy has successfully prevented the progression of hepatic diseases. Green tea is one of the commonly used beverages and considered as powerful antioxidant. This study was designed to investigate the protective effects of green tea administration on CCl₄ induced liver cirrhosis in experimental rats. A total of 24 male Wistar rats were selected and divided into 4 experimental groups (6 each) as: Group-1: normal healthy untreated rats; Group-2: CCl₄ (0.8 mg/kg) induced cirrhotic rats; Group-3: treated with 5% green tea orally; Group-4: treated with CCl₄ (0.8 mg/kg) intraperitoneally once a week for 8 weeks+5% oral administration of green tea. The preventive effects of green tea were measured by means of plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total and direct bilirubin, tissue malondialdehyde (MDA), tissue superoxide dismutase (SOD) and tissue catalase. Induction of cirrhosis by CCl₄ was indicated by high levels of plasma ALT, direct bilirubin, tissue MDA and low levels of tissue SOD. Results showed that administration of green tea reduced these changes significantly in cirrhotic rats by putting beneficial effects on antioxidant and liver enzymes as well as total and direct bilirubin. This study convinced the possible protective effect of green tea in relation to antioxidant and liver enzymes. It is also conclusive that the chronic and sub chronic administration of green tea extracts has counter effects on hepatotoxicity caused by CCl₄ administration.

Key words: Green tea, total and direct bilirubin, cirrhosis, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP).