ABSTRACT
Prolonged alcohol consumption causes alcoholic liver damage due to the generation of reactive oxygen species, the accumulation of fatty acids, and an increase in inflammatory cytokines in the liver. In this study, the protective effect of a fruit extract of Paeonia anomala (FEPA) against chronic alcohol-induced liver damage was evaluated in Sprague-Dawley rats fed an ethanol or a control Lieber-DeCarli diet for 5 weeks to induce alcoholic liver damage. FEPA (50, 25, and 10 mg/kg body weight/day) as well as the reference control silymarin (25 mg/kg body weight/day) were administered along with the ethanol diet. FEPA protected against increases in alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase in serum and attenuated alcohol-induced increases in triglycerides, tumor necrosis factor alpha, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, and cytochrome P450 2E1 enzyme activity in the liver compared with the group treated with ethanol only. Anti-oxidative defenses such as the total glutathione level and glutathione peroxidase activity were increased by FEPA treatment. These results suggest that FEPA exerts protective effects against chronic alcohol-induced liver damage by attenuating hepatosteatosis and pro-inflammatory cytokine production and enhancing anti-oxidative defense mechanisms in the liver.