Abstract
Liver fibrosis is a major health concern, which might progress to cirrhosis. To date, treatment trials rely mainly on the removal of the causative factor. The current study investigated the potential ameliorative role of sidr honey on thioacetamide (TAA)-induced liver fibrosis in rats. Forty-eight Wistar albino rats were equally allocated into four groups: control; sidr honey (5g/kg body weight (BW), orally); TAA (200 mg/kg BW, IP three times weekly/15 weeks); and sidr honey plus TAA at the same dose and administration rout. Rats co-treated with sidr honey plus TAA revealed significant reduction in hepatic malondialdehyde, hyaluronic acid (HA), alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, gamma glutamyl transferase, direct bilirubin, and hepatic mRNA expression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 1 and collagen type I alpha 1 chain (COL1a1) compared to TAA-exposed rats. In addition, the hepatoprotective potential of sidr honey was indicated via improvement of histopathologic picture of hepatocytes and upregulation of total antioxidant capacity, reduced glutathione, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, total protein, and albumin compared to TAA-treated rats. In conclusion, daily administration of sidr honey (5 g/kg BW) is a promising natural antioxidant and fibrosuppressive agent that could ameliorate liver fibrosis via downregulation of fibrosis genes including TGF-beta 1 and COL1a1 and HA and via enhancement of antioxidant system.