Effect of tea polyphenols on alcoholic liver injury / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To reproduce an experimental model of alcoholic liver disease in rats and to investigate the preventive and treatment effects of tea polyphenols on alcoholic liver disease.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>68 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: alcohol group (gastrically infused with 56% of ethanol once a day with a dose of 7 g/kg body weight for 4, 12 and 24 weeks), tea polyphenols group (gastric infusion with alcohol same as in the alcohol group and with tea polyphenols at 0.25 g/kg bw) and control group (gastric infusion with normal saline). At the end of 4, 12 and 24 weeks, blood samples were collected and then the rats were sacrificed. Liver samples were obtained for routine histological examination and the degree of hepatic steatosis and alcoholic hepatitis were examined. Blood specimens were used for evaluation of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) The levels of the two transaminases were elevated with the increase of the duration of ethanol feeding and the difference is significant. TP significantly mitigated the increase of ALT and AST activities induced by the alcohol. (2) Histological changes of the liver injury indicated that piecemeal or focal necrosis of hepatocytes was present in the centrilobular area. As fibrosis advanced, broader septa were formed with central-central and centra-portal bridging necrosis. In the TP infusion group, the severity of the pathological changes was significantly milder.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results of this study revealed that TP mitigated the development of alcoholic liver disease, and TP may be a potential drug for treatment of alcoholic liver disease.</p>

Histopathological changes in rat transplanted hepatoma after lipiodol transarterial embolization / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the histopathological effect of hepatic arterial infusion of lipiodol on transplanted hepatoma in rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fourty-one rats bearing Walker-256 transplanted hepatoma were randomly divided into embolization group (n = 35, divided in 5 subgroups, with 7 rats in each) and control group (n = 6). Lipiodol (0.5 ml/kg)emulsified with 0.2 - 0.3 ml of 76% urografin (v:v = 1:1) was infused via gastroduodenal artery into hepatic artery in embolization group. Rats in the control group were given via the same route urografin only. Histopathological changes of the treated tumors were examined by light and transmission electron microscopy.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the control rats treated with urografin alone, the average tumor size increased 2.8 fold on day 3, while that in the lipiodol treated rats increased 1.7 fold (P < 0.01). Compared with the control group, on day 3, 5, 10 after embolization treatment, tumor necrosis was more extensive (P < 0.01). In one of the treated rats, the tumor was completely necrotic on day 10. Inflammatory reaction was marked in the early post-embolic period, but it was replaced by fibrous tissue encapsulation. From day 1 on, in 17 of the 18 treated rats, apoptotic cells, identified by typical morphology under light and electronic microscopes, were observed, mainly in the tumor periphery.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>In addition to cellular necrosis, apoptosis may be another important mechanism leading to cell death in hepatoma treated with transarterial embolization.</p>