Therapeutic Effect of Dunaliella salina Microalgae on Thioacetamide- (TAA-) Induced Hepatic Liver Fibrosis in Rats: Role of TGF-β and MMP9

Abstract

Liver fibrosis represents a serious global health-care problem and is the outcome of many chronic liver diseases, cirrhosis, hepatitis, and toxin accumulation. The present study aimed to evaluate the antifibrotic curative effect of Dunaliella salina (D. salina) on thioacetamide- (TAA-) induced liver fibrosis in rats. Liver fibrosis was induced by TAA (200mg/kg; i.p.) twice per week for 6 weeks. D. salina was given orally (100 and 200 mg/kg) and silymarin was given orally (100 mg/kg) daily, for 4 weeks after TAA. Serum transaminase activities, liver inflammatory cytokines, fibrotic biomarkers, and liver histopathology were assessed. TAA significantly (p<0.05) elevated serum activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and serum levels of total bilirubin, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) with a reduction in albumin. In addition, TAA increased hepatic contents of collagen I, a-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP-1), reduced matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9), and finally produced marked degeneration and fibrosis of hepatocytes. Treatment with D. salina or silymarin improved the histological feature of hepatocytes and ameliorated the deleterious effects of TAA in a dose-dependent manner. Based on these results, it could be concluded that the use of D. salina could be assigned for liver fibrosis treatment via its anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic properties.