RESUMO
Alcohol consumption is a risk factor for hepatitis that may lead to alcoholic cirrhosis, a major cause of death in many parts of the world. DDB is a hepatoprotective drug which is mainly used for treatment of chronic persistent and active hepatitis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the protective effects of DDB against alcohol-induced liver injury and free radical generation in rats. Fifty male rats were divided into five treatment groups and treated for 4 weeks with alcohol 7.9 g/kg b.w. and DDB 50 mg/ kg b.w. during or before alcohol administration. The results revealed that alcohol administration resulted in a significant increase in MDA, NO, IL-1 alpha, TNF- alpha, leptin, cholesterol, TG, LDL-cholesterol, ALT, procollagen III, Pi-GST, bilirubin and estradiol Whereas, it caused a significant decrease in CAT, SOD, GPX and testosterone. Treatment with DDB during or before alcohol administration resulted in a significant improvement in all the tested parameters and succeeded to restore their values towards the normal values of the control Moreover, treatment with DDB during alcohol administration was more effective than the treatment before alcohol administration.