Protective effect of Panax ginseng against thioacetamide cytotoxicity in liver and kidney of albino rat

ABSTRACT

Thioacetamide [TA] has a deleterious effect on hepatocytes and kidney cells. TA administration is an established technique for generating rat models of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. Panax ginseng root has an antioxidant and protective effect against many chemical and physical agents. In this study Panax gensing roots with a dose of 117mg/kg was used for a period of 10 days prior to TA oral administration of 300 mg/kg sublethal dose. TA highly affected liver and kidney of rats. Previous starvation for 24, 48 and 72 hours immediately to TA administration strongly potentiated the effect of TA on the tissue injury of liver and kidney. The histopathological observations indicated highly disturbed hepatic portal area and marked hyperplasia in liver of rats while the damage of kidney involved areas of internal haemorrhage, disrupted and swollen cells of convoluted tubules and lobulated atrophied glomeruli. The obtained results showed that pre-treatment with Panax ginseng roots partially improved or modulated the pathological changes induced by TA intoxication in the liver while no significant protective effect in kidney cells has been detected against cellular damages of TA. This work aimed to evaluate the protective effect of Panax ginseng roots against the destructive effect of TA. Histochemical analysis of total protein showed that administration of TA induced depletion of liver and kidney proteins while pretreatment with ginseng improved the protein contents