ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To provide a morphological evaluation of the effectiveness of incorporating remaxol into a treatment regimen for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The investigation was conducted using 32 male C57BL/6 mice weighing 35-44 g, which were divided into 4 groups. In Group 1, eight mice were fed with a standard diet for 75 days; the animals from Groups 2 and 3 received a hypercaloric diet for the same period of time. The mice from Group 2 were euthanized immediately after the diet was stopped; and Group 3 was switched to the standard diet after 20 days of the recovery period. Group 4 included the mice that were, after a 75-day hypercaloric diet, were injected with remaxol at a dose of 25 ml/kg once daily every other day; the cycle consisted of 10 injections. Liver tissues were morphologically evaluated using Oil Red O-stained tissue specimens additionally stained with Mayer's hematoxylin on the cryostat sections applying a Zeiss Axio Imager. A2 microscope equipped with an Axiocam 506 color camera. The photographed images were processed using the ZEN 2.3 program ('Carl Zeiss', Germany). RESULTS: The morphological equivalent of liver improvement in mice that were injected and were not injected with remaxol was found to be normalization of the lobular structure, preservation of the structure and intralobular orientation of the hepatic tubules, and restoration of the width of the sinusoidal lumen. The degree of infiltration was much lesser than that in the group of experimental animals that did not additionally receive the drug. CONCLUSION: These histological signs may suggest that remaxol is effective in treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
