Therapeutic effect of Rhubarb licorice root decoction on liver and kidney injury in rats exposed to cadmium / 中国职业医学

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effects of rhubarb and licorice( Rhubarb licorice root decoction) on liver and kidney injury in rats exposed to cadmium. METHODS: Healthy male specific pathogen-free grade SD rats were randomly divided into control group,model group,licorice group and Rhubarb licorice root decoction group by random number table. Except the control group,the other 3 groups were intraperitoneally injected with 1. 00 g/L cadmium chloride solution at the dose of 1 mg/kg body mass,once every other day for 6 times. After 7 days,the rats in the licorice group and the Rhubarb licorice root decoction were given licorice soup and Rhubarb licorice root decoction,respectively. The dose was 50 mg/kg body mass,once per day for 30 days. At 24 hours after the last gavage,rats were secrificed and the liver and kidney were isolated. Liver and kidney organ coefficients were calculated and the pathologic changes in liver and kidney tissues were observed. The fully automatic biochemical analyser was conducted to detect the activity of aspartate aminotransferase( AST) and alanine aminotransferase( ALT) in liver tissue and the activity of superoxide dismutase( SOD) and level of malondialdehyde( MDA) in liver and kidney tissues. RESULTS: Large area of necrosis were found in the liver and kidney in the model group. In the ticorice group and Rhubarb licorice root decoction group,the necrosis in the liver and kidney decreased,and Rhubarb licorice root decoction group improved more obviously than ticorice group.The coefficient of liver and kidney,the activity of AST and ALT in liver tissue,and MDA level in liver and kidney tissues of the model group increased( P < 0. 05),meanwhile the activity of SOD in liver and kidney tissues decreased( P < 0. 05)when compared with the control group. The above indexes in licorice group and Rhubarb licorice root decoction group had improvement than that of model group( P < 0. 05). The improvement of above indexes in the Rhubarb licorice root decoction group was better than that in the licorice group( P < 0. 05). CONCLUSION: Rhubarb licorice root decoction has protective effect on liver and kidney damage caused by cadmium exposure.